White Sheep: Philosopher's Stone
by princess-katie
Summary: What if Lily Evans never existed? What if James Potter instead married the twin sister of Sirius Black? James and Maia Potter survived the attack on Godric's Hollow and 10 years later are sending their son off for his first year at Hogwarts, with no idea of the chaos he will get into. Follow Harry and his parents through his first year here. James/OC. AU. Alive!Marauders.
1. Hogwarts Letter

**Author's Note: This is a sequel to my Marauder-era story _Friendship, Love, Twists and Turns _which is on my profile but you DON'T need to read that (but please take a look!). All you need to know is:  
-Lily Evans never existed and Sirius has a twin sister, Maia (pronounced My-a). James and Maia fell in love, got married and had Harry. When Voldemort attacked Godric's Hollow, James' parents were babysitting and they died instead of James and Maia. Harry's grandmother's love protected him so he survived.  
-Maia was pregnant when Voldemort attacked Harry, so he has a sister Lyra, two years younger.  
-Sirius went after Peter but caught him after he blew the street apart so Peter is in Azkaban  
-Regulus turned into a spy for Dumbledore when he found out his sister's child was in danger and reconciled with them. He is the Potions Master.  
-Snape is in Azkaban since Lily doesn't exist and he had no reason to be the spy.  
-Alice and Frank Longbottom were in the Marauders year at school and good friends, so Maia is Neville's godmother, and Remus is his godfather.**

* * *

Chapter One

Maia Potter woke up early on the third Monday in July. She knew she needed to drag herself out of bed, get dressed, make breakfast for her two children – if they were out of bed yet – and feed the cat before going to work, but she _needed _five more minutes in bed.

Her husband of 12 and a half years was curled up behind her in just his underwear, his arm wound around her waist firmly and holding her close. He was lovely and warm and she fidgeted and nestled closer to him, closing her eyes for just a second.

"Stop wriggling," James mumbled sleepily, his breath tickling the back of her neck, "I want more sleep."

"Not sure if there's time for that," Maia replied sadly, still fidgeting to try and get into another position, her legs feeling achy from the curled up position she'd slept in all night.

"Stop. Wriggling," James repeated with frustration, loosening his hold on his wife slightly to allow her some more room to move, "you don't know what you do to me."

Maia laughed as she rolled over onto her back and found herself looking up into James' face and his warm hazel eyes, as he propped himself up on one elbow and took in every part of her face. At some point he must have reached behind him and he shoved his glasses onto his face so he could actually see.

"I think I _do _know," she replied, licking her lips and allowing her eyes to flicker to his lips.

James let out something akin to a growl as he leaned down and claimed her lips in a deep kiss.

Even almost 14 years into their relationship, 12 and a half years after their wedding, and two children later, the Potters were as much in love as they were when they were 18. It was often far more difficult to make time for each other than was ideal as they both worked full time, and Maia often worked shifts and unsociable hours. Even when they were both free, the children came first, so they made everything that they could out of the small moments, and tried to make time for dates whenever they could.

James pulled away after a very thorough kiss and reached up to stroke Maia's cheek with the back of the hand that wasn't propping him up.

At the age of 31, his wife was every bit as beautiful to him as she had always been. Sure, she had a few lines around her eyes, a few faint lines around her mouth when she smiled, and occasionally frown lines on her forehead when the children weren't behaving, but he didn't see any of that. She was still young, her features still carrying the aristocratic grace that ran in the Black family, and she was still in good shape, despite her two children. Running around on the hospital wards and spending her spare time playing quidditch had seen to that.

"We should get up," Maia sighed, smirking when her husband looked disappointed.

She understood. She'd like to stay in bed with him too but there wasn't time so she leaned up and pacified him with another kiss on the lips. Her husband was still a handsome man, and had in fact gotten better with age. He too had a few more lines, and he had some stray grey hairs, but he still had the same cheeky grin she'd fallen in love with and years of working in the field and training to stay fit for his job had kept him in shape.

When she pulled away from this kiss, Maia shifted away from him, rolling out of bed and getting to her feet.

She used their ensuite bathroom to get changed into her lime green robes – the uniform of St Mungo's hospital - and twist her long curly hair into an elegant knot, securing it with several pins. She then vacated the bathroom to allow James get ready for work, and went downstairs to make a start on breakfast.

In the kitchen she found Remus already by the kettle, making himself a morning drink, which was no surprise as Remus was always the first awake.

"Good Morning," she smiled at him as she dropped her work bag onto one of the chairs.

"Morning," he replied pleasantly, "tea?"

"Yes please. And one for James too, if you would."

Time had been slightly less kind to Remus. His "furry little problem", as James was been fond of calling it, aged him and he looked older and more tired than the others. There was a lot of grey in his hair, dark circles under his eyes and underneath his robes, he was covered in scars. His robes were shabby as he had struggled to find work over the years, and was too proud to take much money from James, Maia or Sirius, who all had large family fortunes and didn't even need to work.

He'd had many different jobs over the years but the prejudice against werewolves meant that as soon as his employers found out, he was fired – and they always found out. Taking every full moon off was suspicious.

His situation had improved in the last few years however, as he took charge of home-schooling Harry and Lyra, which suited everyone, and he was finally happier to accept money from James and Maia, since he was actually doing something.

"What are you working this week?" Remus asked as Maia's kitten curled itself around her legs, begging for attention, and the family owl hooted in her cage, tapping his beak on the bars.

The little black kitten had been a present from James to Maia on her 30th birthday, and she'd named her Hera. She loved cats but the last one she had died when Voldemort attacked their home. The family owl, Apollo, was a beautiful big eagle owl.

"Day shifts on creature induced injuries," Maia replied. She liked day shifts – 9am to 5pm, 4 times a week, home in time for tea and it matched up to James' work day too, unless he was called in on an emergency.

Maia had gone back to work as a Healer when the children were 2 and 4. It had taken a long time to work her way up to leaving the children and doing a job but eventually she was ready, and she loved her job. She rotated around the different departments, except for the permanent residents ward on the 4th floor, where Frank and Alice Longbottom still lived, as that ward had a team of permanent staff.

At first, the children had been put in to the child-care that the hospital had for its staff, depending on what shifts Maia was working, and it worked well. There were plenty of other children in the hospital's child-care, they seemed to enjoy it and Maia could visit them in her breaks. If she was working later shifts, James would pick the children up and take them home, and depending on what Remus' current job was, sometimes he'd look after them. The staff there also educated them so it suited everyone.

When Harry reached the age of 8, there were no more children his age in child-care and he started to hate it and constantly complain. At the same time, Remus was out of work and struggling so James suggested that they let Remus home-school the children. Remus would be a brilliant teacher, he could get appropriate materials from the ministry and he'd have loved to be a teacher if he didn't have his condition.

Now it was late July, traditionally school holidays, Remus had stopped educating the children and they were having the summer off, which explained why they were both still in bed.

Maia doubted that she'd see either of them before she went to work. Lyra was fond of a lie-in and usually had to be dragged out of bed, though Harry was a bit better.

She set out food and drink for the cat and fed the owl and then started on breakfast for she, James, Sirius and Remus.

A loud crack behind her made Maia jump and as she was flicking her wand at their bacon, she nearly made it fly out of the pan.

"Sirius! Would it kill you to _walk_ down the stairs?!" she snapped.

Sirius chuckled, "No but it amuses me that it still makes you jump."

He leaned over her shoulder and tried to reach into the pan to steal some food but she slapped his hand and told him, "Just sit down -"

"-out of the way, I know," he finished for her, taking a seat at the table and propping his feet up on one of the other chairs.

Even after all these years, the six of them co-existed happily in the house. Potter Manor was big enough that there had never been reason for Remus and Sirius to move out. They lived on the first floor of the house on either side of the library while James and Maia occupied the master bedroom on the 2nd floor. Also on the 2nd floor was a bedroom which had been converted into an office for James, and another spare room. The children had a bedroom each on the 3rd floor and there was a spare bedroom which practically belonged to Neville.

Maia had taken her role as godmother and Alice's best friend seriously and Neville came over for tea and slept twice a week, and they often had care of him at other times too.

"Are we all set for Prongslet's birthday?" Sirius asked.

"All set," James replied, striding into the room and picking up a mug of tea from the counter, "thanks Moony."

He almost tripped over the cat as he went to sit down on the table and he cursed. The cat hissed at him and Maia looked over her shoulder and threw James a glare.

"_Don't _be mean to Hera," she said.

"Damned thing hates me," James replied, "I bought her for you, and she's evil and she hates me!"

"It's probably got a lot to do with the time you turned her neon pink," Maia replied, narrowing her eyes at him, "_and _you encouraged our daughter to help you."

"Lyra didn't really _do _anything," James insisted, flashing her the grin that usually got him out of trouble with her, "she was just … there."

"You're a bad influence James Potter," Maia told him as she summoned four plates out of the cupboard, "you and Sirius are teaching that girl too many ways to cause mischief."

"Oh _please," _Sirius scoffed, "I'm just teaching her things, being a good godfather. She has a lot of potential."

James nodded, "Besides, who helped her remove the shower head and fill it with jelly slugs so I had a horrible sticky shower?"

Maia wore her best innocent look, "I honestly don't know, darling." To distract him from the conversation, she flicked her wand and the plates, now full of food, flew to the table and landed perfectly on the placemats. "Tuck in then."

James shook his head at the sheer audacity of the woman, but when she took a seat opposite him and looked at him with her best innocent face, there was nothing he could do. It was even worse when his children gave him the same face. He'd never been able to say no to either of them.

"You're sure everything's set for Harry's birthday?" asked Sirius eagerly.

Harry's 11th birthday was on Saturday and 11 was a big birthday. 11 meant receiving a Hogwarts letter, and 11 was where it all began.

"Yes," James insisted, "all the presents have been bought, they just need to be wrapped, and we need to pick a cake up but Maia's going to do that on Friday."

"We need to get Neville a present though," Maia pointed out, "Augusta won't let us have him for tea on Friday since it's his birthday and she wants him to have a birthday tea with her and her brother and sister-in-law -"

"Poor Neville," Sirius muttered.

"Agreed," James said through a mouthful of bacon.

"I _know," _Maia agreed, "but we _are _having him on Saturday. I was thinking we could go to Diagon Alley on Saturday and get Harry his Hogwarts things after we've done breakfast and presents, then pick Neville up. Then the boys and Lyra can play and we could go out somewhere nice for dinner."

"Sounds great," James said, "I just can't believe that it's time for Harry to go to Hogwarts."

"I know," Maia sighed, "I feel like we've just graduated. How can it be time for our son to go?"

Sirius grinned, "I can't wait to hear what he'll get up to. All the adventures he'll have, all the friends he'll make, all the Slytherins that he'll prank, all the quidditch matches he'll win."

"He might _be _a Slytherin," pointed out Maia carefully, "and it's ok if he _is_."

"Don't be ridiculous," Sirius said, "he's not going to be a Slytherin."

"I'm just saying, if he is-"

"He won't-"

"Well I don't think so either but just in case-"

"The boy is a Gryffindor through and-"

"_Don't _tell him that, I don't want him to be upset if-"

"He's couldn't possibly be a-"

"It wouldn't be the end of the world! Regulus was-"

"Yeah but Regulus used to be a prat and-"

"Yeah but now-"

"Be quiet, both of you," Remus interrupted, sounding exasperated but grinning. The twins spoke quickly in half sentences, as they had always done, and everyone around them usually left them to it. Remus was always the first one to put an end to it and they always listened to him. He added, "Harry might be a Hufflepuff, you know."

"Don't be ridiculous," Maia and Sirius said at the same time.

Five minutes later, the plates were empty and James sent them flying into the sink. He was about to start cleaning them, when Maia shook her head at him.

"You need to get to work," she said, resting her hand on his back and trying to turn him away from the kitchen sink, "it won't do for the head of the department to be late."

James had been made Head of the Auror Office 18 months ago, just after his 30th birthday. He was young to be a head of department but he'd been a fully qualified auror for ten years and as soon as Mad-Eye Moody even thought about retiring he began preparing his most promising protegee, and told the Minister of Magic that James Potter was the only person suitable to take his job.

Maia had been so proud of him and she treated him to a fancy dinner, then took him home, cast a silencing charm around their bedroom and treated him to a night in. She occasionally visited him at work to have lunch with him, if she was working nights or afternoons and had lunch time free. Being head of the office meant he was often called in out of hours and brought a lot of paperwork home, but Maia couldn't be prouder of him.

"Mm, I should go," James agreed, taking hold of her arm and pulling her a little closer. He leaned down to kiss her soundly on the lips, ignoring the disgusted noise Sirius made from somewhere behind them.

Maia nodded when they broke apart and looked at Remus, "You'll be ok with the kids?"

"Just like every week," Remus smiled, sipping his coffee, "we'll be fine. Lyra has convinced me that we should go to the beach."

Potter Manor was situated in picturesque Devon. The nearest village was Puddlemere, which had a large wizarding population and a good strong quidditch team. The coast was a short walk away and the Lyra was very fond of spending days at the beach.

Her first sign of magic had happened on the beach when she was two years old. Maia had been splashing about in the sea with Harry, and James was building a sandcastle for Lyra. Lyra had gotten excited by the sandcastle, giggled and then all of a sudden it was finished and perfect.

"Good idea," Maia smiled, "don't let the kids sleep in all day and for Merlin's sake keep an eye on Lyra at the beach, the girl is wild. Keep an eye out for the post too, Harry's Hogwarts letter should be here any day now."

"She behaves for me," Remus pointed out, and it was true.

"And _only _you," James pointed out. Their daughter was mischievous, and it was both of their faults. She'd inherited her parents love of messing about and playing tricks on everyone, and she was as wild and unruly as her mother had been, with her temper to match. She adored Sirius and would do anything he said, but she also adored her godfather, Remus. Remus was never the bad influence that Sirius was, he was calming and Lyra always listened to him.

"Ok, we'll see you later," Maia told Remus as she stepped up to the fireplace and reached for the pot of floo powder. A while after the war was over, they'd got the fireplace reconnected to the floo network, which made travelling nice and easy, since the children couldn't apparate, and side-along apparation was tricky and made them both feel sick.

"Have a good day, love," James smiled, following her to the fireplace.

"You too," she replied, reaching out for him again, taking hold of a fistful of his burgandy coloured work robes and drawing him in for a final kiss. After everything they'd been through, they had a rule about always saying goodbye to each other properly before they left.

"Stay safe," Maia mumbled against his lips when they pulled away from a kiss.

"See you tonight," James replied as he straightened up and watched Maia step into the fireplace. She threw down a handful of floo powder, said the name of the hospital and disappeared into a flash of emerald green flames.

Maia's day was hectic. The hospital schedule meant that she rotated around the different departments every few months. It was possible to specialise in one particular area but Maia enjoyed moving around. She'd been a Healer for 7 years, plus the time before she got pregnant with Harry, and was often a Healer-In-Charge. For the next couple of months, she was on creature induced injuries and when she was on shift, was the healer-in-charge. This week she had day shifts, which was great. Last week had been night shifts, which was horrible.

Maia spent the first part of her morning doing rounds on the patients with the trainee healers, checking on their progess, ordering and carrying out new treatments. She saw several new patients, including a man with a horrible flobberworm bite, a 10 year old with a nasty burn from a blast-ended skrewt, and a woman who had had a particularly bad reaction to Doxy venom.

By the time she went home, she was completely exhausted and her shift had run over by an hour, which wasn't unusual. You couldn't leave the moment your shift ended if you were halfway through consulting on a patient, when you were a healer.

She travelled home at 6pm by floo powder and appeared in the kitchen to smell food already cooking.

"Hi," James grinned, turning around from the cooker when he heard the rush of movement in the fireplace signalling his wife's arrival.

"Hi," she replied, stepping out and brushing herself off.

"Good day?" he asked as she stepped over and peered at what he was doing.

"Not bad," she replied, "you know how the creature floor is. Burns, bites, stings. What are you cooking? And how was your day?"

"Lasagna," he told her, pointing at the pan, "and nothing exciting today, I'm afraid."

Nobody in the house was an amazing cook, and nobody was the designated house chef, so they all pitched in, trying to come up with a plan at the beginning of the week for who would cook which nights. They usually all ate together, apart from when Maia was working through tea time, and although the house had a huge dining room, the kitchen was big too and perfectly adequate for six people.

"Lovely. Sorry I'm late," she said, shaking her head.

James grinned, leaning down to kiss her cheek, "Don't worry about it, I have a hectic job too, remember?"

"How are the kids?"

"Good," James said, "Moony took them to the beach when they dragged themselves out of bed. They came back just after I got home from work. Lyra was _soaked, _seaweed tangled in her hair, pockets filled with shells and sand, and Harry broke his glasses again. _And _he's got something to show you. He's been waiting for you to come home. "

"Well what is it?" Maia asked.

James chuckled, "I think he's in the living room. Go on, I can manage dinner by myself."

Maia smiled at him and looked down when she felt the kitten rubbing up against her legs. The cat adored Maia, who spent hours stroking her and playing with her. Maia reached down and gently picked the black ball of fur up. Hera mewed and playfully batted Maia's face with one paw.

"C'mon little kitty," Maia cooed, "let's go find Harry."

Hera allowed herself to be carried around the house and Maia left the kitchen in search of her children. She heard voices from the living room and smiled as she heard her son's voice.

"Knight to D5," Harry said.

Maia stopped in the doorway in time to see Sirius smirking as he ordered one of his pieces to move and took Harry's knight. Harry groaned in frustration and Maia smiled at her son.

"Hey you two," she grinned, leaning in the doorway.

"Mum, you're back," Harry grinned eagerly, quickly getting up from his position on the floor and scrabbling in his pocket for something. From the excitement on his face, Maia could guess what he was about to show her.

"We've been dying for you to get back," Sirius told her, "wait 'til you see what Prongslet got today!"

Maia's son was a carbon copy of his father at his age, but with her own unusual grey eyes and the lightening bolt scar in the middle of his forehead. He was scrawny, like James had been, but she knew he'd grow. He had his father's knack for getting into trouble, and had the playful streak of the marauders, though he was less wild than his younger sister. When angry, he had Maia's temper and he had the same defiant look his mother did, not to mention the look of innocence when he'd been caught doing something. He loved quidditch – it was hard not to, in their family – and James had had quidditch posts installed in the gardens years ago.

He was missing the sheer arrogance and attitude that the young James had had, because Maia had been careful how they raised him. He wasn't a spoilt child, despite the fact that they were wealthy and he was famous. They'd been very careful to shield him from people trying to take pictures and shake his hand, and since he wasn't yet at school, it was easy enough to protect him.

Maia had been determined to raise her children in a happy environment and make sure their childhoods were nothing like hers, and she liked to think she'd succeeded. She had never loved her parents but she had an excellent relationship with her children.

Lyra was a Daddy's girl through and through, but was Sirius' girl even more, and adored her godfather, Remus. She was also got along well with her Uncle Regulus, who came around every Sunday for the family roast dinner. Harry – unlike Lyra – didn't seem to have a favourite parent, for which Maia was very grateful. He also adored Sirius, who was a cross between another parent and a cool big brother. His relationship with his Uncle Regulus was polite and friendly enough, but not as good as Lyra's. He too, was very fond of Remus.

"Look Mum!" Harry exclaimed, pulling out of his pocket a yellow-ish envelope addressed in emerald green ink. He turned it over to show her that there was a fancy red wax seal on the other side – the Hogwarts crest.

Hera meowed and batted Maia with her paws so Maia smiled and put the cat on the floor, unsurprised when she hissed at Sirius whilst walking past and curling herself around Harry's leg. The cat hated James, Sirius and Lyra for the amount of pranks they'd played on her – and probably in Sirius case because he was a dog – but she seemed to like Harry.

"Sweetheart, is that your Hogwarts letter?" Maia grinned excited for him.

She and the others had been telling him stories about their time at Hogwarts for as long as he could remember and Harry had been looking forward to getting his letter so much.

"I think so," Harry replied, looking down at the envelope, "it says "Mr H. Potter, Third Floor Bedroom, Potter Manor, Devon.""

"Well _open _it," Maia insisted, pointing at the letter, "come on, what are you waiting for?"

"I wanted you and Dad to be here," Harry replied.

Maia smiled, "_Oh_. In that case come on, come into the kitchen, I think your Dad is busy cooking dinner so we wouldn't want to drag him away, would we?"

She and Harry went back into the kitchen, and Sirius got up to follow them.

"Dad I'm going to open my letter!" Harry called excitedly as he hurried into the kitchen, waving the envelope.

In the kitchen, James was overseeing dinner and it appeared to be almost ready as he flicked his wand to get the plates to come out of the cupboards. Maia found her daughter sitting on the worktop chatting to her Dad and swinging her legs.

"It's not fair!" whined Lyra, pouting and folding her arms over her chest, "I want to go to Hogwarts."

"You will eventually, Ly," Maia pointed out, "and get down from the worktop please. If you want to sit down, come and sit at the table."

Lyra rolled her eyes – a trait she had recently picked up and Maia was pretty sure she'd learnt from Sirius, when he rolled his eyes every time Maia and James dared to share a kiss. She jumped down from the worktop.

"I want to go to Hogwarts, Mum," she sighed as she flopped into one of the kitchen chairs.

"One day, sweetheart," Maia replied, resting her hand on her daughter's shoulder as she stood behind her and leaning down to press a kiss in her dark curly hair, "let Harry open his letter, then you can tell me all about the beach."

"Can I open it now?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Open it!" Sirius encouraged him.

With slightly shaky hands, Harry ripped open the envelope and pulled out a piece of parchment. This was it. This was the moment he'd been waiting for ever since he'd heard the first stories about the magical school.

"It's Hogwarts!" he confirmed as his eyes followed the parchment and he read part of it out loud, ""We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1st September. We await you owl by no later than 31st July. Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress." I'm going to Hogwarts!"

Sirius was the first to react and happened to be standing closest to Harry. He immediately pulled the boy in for a tight hug. "You're going to Hogwarts!"

"C'mon, move out of the way," Maia sighed when Sirius wasn't letting go.

Harry grinned and let Maia throw her arms around him, also pulling him in for a tight hug. He returned his mother's hug happily as she told him, "I'm so proud of you! You're getting so grown up – Hogwarts already! I don't know what I'll do when you're gone for months on end!"

"Don't fuss, Mum," Harry laughed when she let go of him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

James laughed as Harry wiped away the kiss with the back of his hand, and he also hugged his boy, "Well done Prongslet. It's time to go and become a real wizard."

"Why can't _I _go?" Lyra asked, frowning.

"You're just not old enough, angel, you know that," James told her comfortingly, "but you'll be there before you know it, just you wait and see."

"When can we go get my school things?" Harry asked eagerly, already scanning the list of required belongings, "hey, can I get a pet? An owl would be really cool."

"We can go to Diagon Alley on Saturday," Maia told her son.

"This is so unfair," Lyra huffed.

Maia sighed – sometimes trying to pay equal attention to her children was difficult, and she was sure it would only get more difficult as they got older. Harry was the Boy Who Lived and all that rubbish, and she'd never want Lyra to be overshadowed but this was about Harry, not her daughter, who was being whiny and jealous.

"Pup, don't be like that," Sirius said, stepping closer to his beloved niece. He knelt in front of her and put both of his hands on her upper arms, "with Harry off at school all year, this _does_ mean you'll have the undivided attention of your favourite uncle."

Lyra nodded, "Yeah, I guess."

Sirius grinned, reaching up and putting his thumb and forefinger under her chin and tilting her head so she was looking in his eyes instead of down at her shoes. "It'll be great," Sirius told her, "think of all the pranks. We'll have a year to practise everything on Uncle Moony and your Mum and Dad-"

"Hey!" James protested.

Sirius continued, "-and when Harry comes back in the summer, he won't know what's hit him. We'll have loads of fun and you'll get your chance to go to Hogwarts soon enough, right?"

Lyra gave him a genuine smile, "Ok."

Maia exchanged a look of disbelief with James at how easy it had just been to make their 9 year old happy. James mouthed "Ok?" at Maia and she shrugged and shook her head in response. She would never understand how Sirius managed to get through to the girl when no-one else did.

Dinner that night was spent reminiscing about Hogwarts. James told the children about when he had captained the Gryffindor quidditch team to victory two years in a row. Sirius told them about their best pranks on the Slytherins. Maia told them about Hagrid, who was bound to take the children under his wing, and who they'd actually met when they were little but not recently enough for either of them to remember very well. Remus told them that they could brew potions, meet magical creatures, turn teacups into mice and try to tell fortunes.

After dinner they went to play quidditch in the garden.

Harry and Lyra could both fly well enough, it was in their blood and they'd grown up watching James and Maia arguing over who was the best chaser and having competitions. James had been eager to teach their children how to fly and Maia had a sneaking suspicion that their boy would be able to out-fly both of them in years to come.

They played all combinations of doubles in the gardens, playing without the bludgers because there weren't enough people to keep them away and playing without the snitch for a while too. James and Maia were evenly matched, and could both out-fly Harry, and all were better than Lyra, though she put up a good fight.

When it became too dark and everyone was tired, Maia insisted that the children went to get ready for bed and go to their rooms. She went up to the third floor to make sure they were both doing as they were told – particularly Lyra. She hugged and kissed the children and said goodnight and then went downstairs.

She put some water out for the cat for the night, gave her a little cuddle and then went up to bed.

In the bedroom she found James sitting up in bed, waiting for her. She loved this part of the day. Things were often so hectic that the two of them didn't have much time to talk in the day but when they climbed into bed at night, they could lie awake for hours, talking over all the details of their day.

Maia went to brush her teeth and got undressed. She pulled on an old white shirt of James' that fell halfway down her thighs and she liked to sleep in when it wasn't cold enough for her pajamas.

James watched her change with an interested look on his face and Maia threw him a wolfish grin before clambering into bed with him.

As soon as she got into bed, she snuggled up to her husband, taking hold of his hand and tugging on it. James chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, drawing her in close and resting his chin on the top of her head as she lay her head on his bare chest.

"How on earth did Harry get old enough to be going to Hogwarts?" Maia asked.

"Magic, I'm sure," James replied rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

"I'm going to miss him so much."

"Me too," James told her, "but he _had _to go at some time and he'll have so much fun. And he's clever so he'll be a natural. He'll shine at Hogwarts, he'll be amazing wizard, and to do that he has to leave and go to school. "

Maia sighed. She'd always had even more of an issue letting go of their children than an average parent, but that was an understandable outcome of having Voldemort attack her 1 year old son and kill her parents-in-law on the one night she'd allowed herself to have a night off.

"Suppose."

James smiled slightly, "C'mon, don't be like this. Don't be sad. He's not leaving until September so we've got months to get used to it. And once he's there we can write to him all the time, and Regulus will see him, and we'll see Regulus every week so we'll know how he is. Don't worry."

"I'll always worry," Maia replied.

"Well don't worry _now," _James replied, "he's not leaving until September. There's no point spending all summer worrying. Why don't you tell me more about your day?"

They stayed awake for a while longer as Maia told James some of the details about her cases, her trainees, the gossip of who was dating who. By the time she was finished, she felt much calmer and James began telling her all about his day, all the things he'd been up to and all his interactions with various staff around the ministry.

An hour and a half after they'd first got into bed there was a lull in conversation and Maia lifted her head from her husband's chest to look up into his face.

"Thanks Jamie," she smiled.

"Thanks?" he echoed, slightly confused.

"You know … for taking my mind off things, calming me down."

James raised his eyebrows and gave her a look that was really rather seductive, if she did say so herself. "You know," he said, "I could take your mind off things in other ways too."

She barely had time to giggle before James pressed his lips to hers and kissed her softly, eventually swiping his tongue across her lower lip and begging for entrance, and Maia parted her lips.

When the kiss ended, Maia grinned at him, "Well, that seems to do the job."

James grinned back at her, reaching for his wand and turning out the lights as he moved in for another kiss.

* * *

**Author's Note: So this story will follow Harry's first year at Hogwarts! Would people prefer it to be all from Maia's point of view like this chapter, or should it be partly from Maia's point of view and partly from Harry's? I'm planning to do several sequels right up to the end of Deathly Hallows but the first few stories will be short as there's not much going on with Voldemort being gone, but there's lots of potential as we get further into the series. **


	2. Diagon Alley

**Note: I can't believe this story got over 60 follows so quickly! Thank you so much to everyone!**

* * *

Chapter Two

The rest of the week was fairly ordinary. Maia worked all week and spent her evenings eating dinner with her family, playing with the children and the cat, wrapping Harry's birthday presents and chatting to James about her day.

When she finished on Friday she went to a bakery in Puddlemere and picked up a birthday cake for Harry, which she hid in the pantry when she got home and only just made it in time to avoid Harry seeing it.

"Hi Mum," Harry said, wandering into the kitchen, carrying his broomstick. He'd been bought a decent broomstick years ago, as soon as it was clear that he enjoyed flying and was good at it. The broomstick had now been used so much that it was almost worn out.

Maia smiled at her first-born. He usually always came to say hello when she finished work and tell her a bit about his day, which she appreciated. He was too old to allow her to cuddle him whenever she wanted like she had when he was little, but he allowed her to fuss over him sometimes.

"Hi sweetheart," she smiled, "did you have a good day? Been up to much?"

"Uncle Moony took us to visit Neville this morning," Harry told her.

"Ah, of course," Maia nodded, turning her back on him for a moment to fill the kettle, "did you all have fun?"

"Yeah. Neville liked his presents and Mrs Longbottom let us stay for lunch, but then we had to go because they were going to see Neville's Mum and Dad. What time is he coming over tomorrow?"

"We'll pick him up after we've gotten your school things," Maia said, "probably lunch time, is that ok?"

Harry grinned, "Thanks Mum. Can I borrow Apollo to tell him?"

"'Course you can. But just write a note and give it back to me because I'm going to send him one myself."

"Thanks Mum!" Harry repeated, leaving the room, no doubt in search of a parchment and quill.

Maia felt bad that she hadn't managed to see her godson on his birthday. She'd sent his birthday card and presents over with Remus and the children, since they would be visiting him. She'd have liked to see him herself but she worked 9 to 5 so there was no time to go in the morning, and she couldn't go after work because his grandmother was forcing him to have tea with his great aunt and uncle, and Maia felt like she couldn't intrude. She'd intended to try and catch him whilst he was visiting his parents but had been too busy treating an emergency patient with a suspected werewolf bite.

She'd suggested to Neville's grandmother that she and James could take the boy to Diagon Alley with Harry to get his school things but Augusta Longbottom was a formidable woman and she'd insisted that she wanted to be the one to take her grandson, so the compromise had been made to pick him up later in the day.

Augusta Longbottom and Maia rarely saw eye to eye. They weren't openly hostile to one another and Maia didn't think she was a bad woman, but Augusta spent too much time telling Neville that he should be more like his father, and she expected too much of the boy, and Maia didn't think it was fair. Augusta shattered the boy's confidence, making him into a nervous wreck because he had to live up to his father's great reputation.

Maia had made sure never to do the same to her own children and when she had care of Neville, she tried to draw him out out of his shell and be a mother in the way she thought Alice would have been. Harry and Neville were the best of friends and Maia was glad it was like that. They sometimes let Lyra play with them but because she was a girl and younger, she was sometimes left out. Not that she minded. Lyra had enough energy to make her own entertainment.

"Did you get a cake?" Sirius asked as he strode into the room whilst she was making herself a cup of tea. Somehow as she'd gotten older, she needed endless mugs of tea. She'd always been useless before her morning cup of tea but now she lived for the stuff.

"It's in the pantry," Maia replied, "chocolate, his favourite."

"Yum," Sirius grinned, "need a hand making -"

"Help with dinner would be great," Maia told him, "you take care of the vegetables and I'll do meat and potatoes?"

Maia was still not brilliant at household spells but she knew enough to get dinner cooked and keep the house clean enough. She wanted to go see her daughter for what would be the first time today and she wanted to see her husband but someone had to get dinner started or it would be hours before they could eat, and it wouldn't take her long with a few spells.

"Where's my daughter?" Maia asked, leaning down to scratch the cat's ears and making her purr like crazy.

"She's in the garden with Moony," Sirius replied, pointing out of the kitchen window.

Maia followed his gesture and saw her daughter laying on her back on the swing, with Remus sitting not far away, reading a book and pointing his wand at the swing to keep it moving.

Maia smiled at the pair of them. Her daughter loved being outside, especially when it was sunny like it was now. She raised her fist to the window and knocked it it, drawing the attention of her daughter and friend.

"Hi Mum!" Lyra shouted at such a volume that her voice carried across the garden and through the closed window, waving both of her arms.

Maia smiled and waved at her, before turning to back to preparing dinner.

"And my-"

Sirius interrupted his sister before she could finish her sentence, "Your husband is in his office. The trainee aurors are starting next week so he has a lot of preparation to do."

"Ok. How was work?" Maia asked her brother as she flicked her wand at the chicken.

"Fairly routine," replied Sirius, "Prongs and I went out to help Arthur Weasley with some suspicious artefacts being sold in muggle shops but it turned out to be some kind of joke. The Weasleys have got a boy starting Hogwarts this time too."

Between James and Sirius they knew everyone around the ministry, and Arthur Weasley's department worked with theirs quite a bit. They weren't particularly good friends but had a civil working relationship. Maia hadn't seen the Weasleys since Gideon and Fabian Prewett's funeral ten years ago. They used to live near them and see them in the local village but that had changed since moving into Potter Manor.

Maia liked that James and Sirius mingled with people all around the ministry and she was always pressing them for gossip about people they used to go to school with. She also liked to try and press Regulus for gossip about the children of their former school acquaintances – a few of them had children a year or two older than Harry.

"That's nice," Maia said, "the boy's bound to be a Gryffindor. Regulus says the whole lot of them were Gryffindors. He's always complaining about those twins messing about in his class. And the older boy, the one who keeps catching the snitch before Slytherin's seeker."

Sirius chuckled, "Regulus is just jealous because the lad isn't on _his _quidditch team. He'd have no problem with them if they were some of his Slytherins."

They chatted about small things for a while and when Maia had put the meat in the oven and magically peeled the potatoes, she stuffed her wand in her pocket.

"Well, _I_ am going to go see my husband and _you _are going to keep an eye on dinner. I won't be long."

Sirius didn't have time to protest as his sister swept from the room.

Maia walked up the stairs to the 2nd floor – without needing to apparate, and wishing Sirius did the same – and she stopped outside her husband's office. She pushed open the door, walked into the room and folded her arms over her chest as she leant back against his filing cabinet, directly opposite his desk.

"Hi," she smiled.

He was sitting behind the desk surrounded by piles of parchment, his hair sticking up in every direction, glasses crooked, quill in hand, sleeves pushed up to his elbows. It wasn't unusual to find him in his office catching up on paperwork he hadn't had time to do in the day time because of all the field work. He'd made a habit of bringing work home with him so he could at least eat dinner with his family.

"Hi," he smiled, putting his quill down, "you alright?"

Maia nodded as she stepped forward, "I'm good," she said, walking forwards slowly and looking at his desk as if looking for somewhere to perch on it, but finding it full of paperwork. She supposed she could take the seat opposite him but that would feel strangely like a job interview, or being in the headmaster's office.

"How was your day?" James asked watching her with amusement, pushing his chair back from the desk and spinning to face her.

"It was good," she replied, taking a few more steps forwards and reaching down to carefully take hold of his glasses, straightening them on his face. "My werewolf bite lady is healing well, I think she can go home soon."

"That's good," James replied, taking hold of her wrist when she withdrew her hand from his glasses and stopping her from moving.

"And your day?" Maia asked, smiling as he tugged on her wrist gently and reached out for her waist with his other hand, making it very clear that he wanted her to come closer.

"Busy," James replied, as Maia followed his actions and let him pull her onto his lap. His arm wound around her waist, hand settling on her hip, and his other hand came up to brush a stray curl away from her face.

"I'm glad it's Friday," Maia said as James leaned in, eyes focused on her lips.

"Me too," James mumbled, so close that his lips brushed hers when he spoke.

They shared a long kiss as James held her close and Maia found herself running a hand through his hair, making it even messier than it already was.

When they broke apart, Maia smirked at him, "I suppose I've distracted you from some important paperwork."

"Yes but you're a welcome distraction," James told her, "we have two new trainees starting next week. They'll be my first since becoming Head Auror so I've been reviewing the training scheme. And there's so much paperwork for new employees."

"Are you looking forward to having some little protegees?" Maia asked him, well aware that although he'd matured, he still had an ego and he'd like to train up a few aurors to be just like him.

"I am," James told her, wrapping a long curl of her hair around his finger, "and I'm looking forward to seeing how good Nymphadora Tonks is. She's got Black blood. She's a _good _Black. If she's anything like the rest of you, she'll be very talented."

Maia smiled. Nymphadora was the only daughter of her favourite cousin, Andromeda. Sirius and Maia hadn't ever seen much of Andromeda but they kept in casual contact. Maia and Sirius used to write to Andy once a month or so from Hogwarts to keep her updated. With the war, they'd sort of lost touch but since they were back to casual contact. Just owls on birthdays and Christmas, but they'd never been _that _close so it was enough.

Nymphadora had just graduated from Hogwarts and Maia had only met her a few times – and the last time had been quite a few years ago, when she'd happened to run into her with Andy in Diagon Alley. She had a feeling she'd get to know her cousin soon enough though, if she was working in the office every day with James and Sirius.

"I'm sure she will be," smiled Maia, "we're a very talented bunch."

"I know you are," James said, running his other hand up and down her back and enjoying the feeling of having her in his arms.

"You have to look after her," Maia said, "I know we don't know her well but she's family so look after her."

"Of course I will," James replied, "I'm a good boss, I look after all of my people. Isn't she a metamorphagus? She'll definitely ace the concealment and disguise exams."

"You'll have to let me know how she gets on," Maia told him.

"Absolutely," agreed James, as he stopped playing with her hair, "are we all set for Harry's birthday?"

"His birthday cake is in the pantry. Chocolate."

James grinned, "His favourite. Good choice, love."

His hand moved from her hair up to her face and he cupped one side of her face with his large hand, his thumb stroking his thumb across her cheek.

"You're very _affectionate_ today," Maia told him, "what's going on?"

"Don't be so suspicious," James told her, shifting his hand and dragging his thumb across her lower lip.

"I can't help but be suspicious when you're being so sweet," Maia replied, struggling to concentrate at his touch, "makes me think you've done something wrong and you're trying to sweeten me up so I won't be so mad when you tell me."

James smirked, "Well, I _have _done _something_."

Maia swatted his hand away from her face and narrowed her away, "James Potter -"

"Relax, it's probably the exact opposite of whatever you're thinking right now," he laughed, "I've booked a few days off work at the end of September – Fudge owes me. I never end up taking time off, apart from a few days around Christmas. And I know you've got enough holidays to take a few days off too."

"For .. what?" Maia asked, thoroughly confused.

James laughed at her, "Sometimes we don't make enough time just for the two of us, and now Harry's going to Hogwarts it got me thinking. In two years, we'll have no children at home-"

"Don't remind me."

"-and we'll have lots of time to spend with each other. But then I started thinking why wait until then? This September will mark 14 years since we stopped dancing around and finally did something about our relationship, so let's _celebrate_. I thought about going at Christmas, for our anniversary, but we couldn't leave the kids at Christmas. Shacklebolt's family has a holiday home in Italy – it looks gorgeous. He said we could borrow it."

"You … _really?" _

"Really. I just-"

Maia grinned and took James' hand in her hands as she kissed him before he could say another words. She kissed him with enthusiasm and it didn't take long for him to kiss back just as eagerly.

When they broke apart, Maia was grinning like a teenager, "You're the best, you _really_ are."

She didn't know the last time that they'd been on a holiday, let alone just the two of them. James had taken no time off at all since becoming Head Auror, and his schedule had been hectic before that anyway.

James laughed at her as she buried her face in his neck and hugged him tightly. He ran his hand through her hair as he returned her embrace.

"Told you I wasn't being suspicious," James mumbled, "I was just being affectionate because I was thinking of all the things we can get up to on a holiday by ourselves."

He was rewarded with another kiss.

The next morning Maia made sure to get up early so she could take all of Harry's presents down to the living room and make him a special breakfast. She knew he'd be up early and she wanted to beat him.

By the time Harry came downstairs in his blue stripy pajamas, hair sticking up in all directions like his father's and glasses crooked on his face, his whole family were in the kitchen. Remus always got up early, his parents and Sirius had made an effort to be up to organise his birthday and Lyra hadn't wanted to miss out on a special birthday breakfast.

"Happy birthday Prongslet!" James beamed when his son entered the kitchen, getting out of his chair and pulling his son in for a hug.

Harry then hugged and accepted birthday greetings from his each of his uncles, and finally his mother, who pulled him in for the longest hug of all. Lyra said happy birthday but didn't offer a hug. She was 9, she didn't hug boys. Especially not her brother. Dad, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Moony didn't count though.

"Happy birthday sweetheart," Maia smiled when she let go of the boy, "I can't believe you're 11 already! Sit down, I've made breakfast. Special birthday pancakes, sit down, enjoy."

Harry loved birthdays. His parents always made a big fuss – especially his Mum. He was sure it was just what parents did, and he enjoyed the special breakfasts, the thought that went into the presents, the day trips out and the birthday cakes. Of course, he had no idea that Maia went above and beyond not just because she was his mother, but because her own parents had never bothered with her birthday.

"Are we going to diagon alley today, Mum?" Harry asked.

"We are," Maia replied, taking her own seat at the table.

"I can come, can't I Mum?" Lyra asked eagerly.

"Don't be silly, Ly, you can't come," James said, wearing his best teasing grin, "you'll just be in the way."

"But _Daaaad," _Lyra whined, making her father burst out laughing.

"Just ignore your Dad," Maia told her daughter, "of course you're coming, if you want to. We couldn't very well go to the ice-cream parlour without you, could we?"

"Are you coming, Uncle Sirius?" Lyra asked her uncle eagerly, "you are, aren't you?"

"Might as well," Sirius replied, "that way when you're bored of the book shop and the clothes shop, where you don't actually _need _anything, me and you can go to the exciting shops."

"And you, Moony?" Harry asked Remus, through a mouthful of pancakes, earning himself a sharp look from his mother.

"Not for me," Remus replied good-naturedly, "I'd only be in the way."

The real reason for Remus' absence was that he _was_ going to go to Diagon Alley, but separately. He was to pick up the best new broomstick around – the Nimbus 2000. It was to be birthday present from both he and Sirius, though Sirius had made more of a contribution than he had, if he was honest. The broomstick was so popular that today was the first day all week that there was one in the shop he could pick up.

When breakfast was finished, it was time to open presents.

Harry hadn't asked for much – he never really did – but he got plenty all the same. He ended up with a mountain of sweets, most of which were chocolate frogs. He got the most up-to-date quidditch annuals and player trading cards, a broomstick care collection and some new clothes. James and Maia told him they'd buy him a few more things in Diagon Alley – a pet if he wanted, since he'd asked for one. Sirius and Remus grinned and told him that they'd get his present from them later on.

Harry thanked them for his presents and then hurried upstairs to get changed, as did Lyra.

Maia, James and Sirius waited for the children by the fireplace, fully dressed and ready to go.

"He's so excited," James grinned, "remember being that _excited _about going to get your wand? And all your books, and fitted for some robes, and getting an owl. And Merlin, the w_and!"_

Maia grinned too. Going to Hogwarts had been the turning point for she and Sirius. The day she got her Hogwarts letter, Maia knew this was her chance to be free, away from the influence of her parents, and away from their dark family. Her horrid mother had dragged she and Sirius to get their school things, mostly from Knockturn Alley, and Maia hadn't even cared that their mother lectured them for the whole shopping trip, banging on about keeping up the family name. She hadn't cared because she'd known they'd be free soon.

"He'll be _so _thrilled with the broomstick," Sirius chipped in.

"I know, I'm pretty jealous myself," James replied.

"Top of the range," Maia added, "it's just a shame that he can't take it to Hogwarts with him."

"Surely he could sneak it in?" James suggested, looking at his wife with the look of a little boy pleading for his favourite toy.

Maia shook her head, "There's no point, it's not as if he can use it anyway. He can't try out for the quidditch team in first year."

"Which is ridiculous if you ask me," Sirius added.

"Funnily enough, no-one at the school _is _asking you," Maia pointed out, "look, I'm sure he's a better flier than the other kids his age, and than most of the damned school for that matter but there's no point in him taking one if he can't use it."

Sirius grinned, "Come on, surely he could just-"

"But the letter says-"

"Frankly Maia I'm disappointed," Sirius told her, shaking his head and nudging James.

"Oh me too," James agreed, "following Hogwarts rules? What happened to you?"

"You can talk, _you_ were Head Boy!" Maia pointed out, narrowing her eyes at her husband. Sirius barked a laugh and looked disgusted.

James looked wounded, "Hey! I used my powers for good. I looked the other way dozens of times so we could pull amazing pranks, and sneak out at night." With a wink, he added to his wife, "and you weren't complaining when my being Head Boy meant we had access to the prefect's bathroom."

"Ew Prongs, I'm standing right here," Sirius grimaced, slapping his friend's arm.

Harry and Lyra appeared in the kitchen soon after and Maia reached for the coat stand in the corner of the kitchen. She handed Harry his travelling cloak and held Lyra's open for her, helping her into it.

"All set?" James asked, looking at his family.

He stepped into the fireplace first, taking a handful of floo powder. The children were getting too big to use the floo network at the same time as their parents and Maia still felt a bit worried about letting them floo by themselves. They'd practised it several times but she never stopped worrying that they wouldn't make it to the right place.

James disappeared in a flash of green flames, then Harry stepped into the fireplace.

With his mother and uncle reminding him to speak clearly, he threw the floo powder down and said, "Diagon Alley."

Maia felt nervous and she knew she wouldn't feel happy now until she got to Diagon Alley and saw that he'd made it there safely enough. Sirius flooed over next, and finally Maia stepped into the fireplace with Lyra.

Maia was short, only a few inches over five feet, and though Lyra was tall for her age, she was 9, so she and her mother managed to fit in the fireplace together, though it was a bit of a squash. Maia grasped her daughter's hand tightly as they both threw down a handful of floo powder.

It was a rough journey and at the fireplaces in Diagon Alley, Lyra and Maia both stumbled and ended up on the floor. It wasn't unusual – Lyra had never taken to using the floo network and Maia always found the journey to Diagon Alley worse than any other journey.

Maia heard laughing nearby and she looked up to see a hand extended to her.

Relief flooded her when she saw that James, Sirius and Harry had all made it here safe, and she gratefully took hold of Sirius' hand and let him pull her to her feet as James helped Lyra up.

"All ok?" Maia asked, focusing particularly on Harry.

"Fine," Harry confirmed, "where are we going first?"

"Gringotts, son," James replied, patting his son on the back as they all moved away from the fireplaces, "we can't buy you anything without gold, can we?"

"Have you got your Hogwarts list?" Maia asked him, "let me see what you need these days."

Harry handed the list over and then fell into step beside James as they walked down the alley towards the snowy white building which towered over all of the others.

Sirius offered one arm out to Maia, which she took, and held Lyra's hand with his free hand. The alley was busy, as it always was at weekends, and was no doubt full of people buying their school supplies. Maia noticed that they were getting looked at by a few passers-by, and she rolled her eyes. Thanks to Rita Skeeter and the rest of those gossip columnists and the likes of Witch Weekly, pictures of the family out and about were often appearing in newspapers, and as a unit, they were very recognisable, but James and Sirius could look formidable which was often helpful.

Maia scanned Harry's list as they walked up the steps to Gringotts. There was nothing out of the ordinary. Robes, gloves, winter cloak, books, wand, cauldron, phials, telescope, scales and maybe a pet.

Before they entered the bank, a voice behind them boomed, "James Potter? And Sirius Black, and Maia!"

The group stopped and turned around and Maia grinned when she saw Hagrid towering over them.

The Marauders had befriended Hagrid at Hogwarts after he'd continually chased them out of the Forbidden Forest. They'd called around for tea every few weeks from 4th year onwards and worked alongside him in the Order. After the war they'd lost touch and only seen each other a few times, and Maia now wished that they'd kept in touch.

"Hagrid!" James exclaimed, "how are you?!"

The children looked thoroughly confused and Maia noticed Lyra shuffle closer into Sirius' side.

"Good, good," Hagrid replied, waving his big hands, "look at all o' yeh, so grown up. An' this must be Harry? Good ter meet yeh Harry."

He swung out his hand and Harry looked at it, vaguely alarmed, but reached out to shake it. "Erm .. I'm sorry, but who are you?"

James playfully clipped his son at the back of the head, "Harry, we must have mentioned him in all of our stories about Hogwarts. This is Rubeus Hagrid-"

"Keeper of Keys and Grounds?" Lyra finished, looking less shy and edging away from Sirius.

"An' this mus' be Lyra!" Hagrid continued, also shaking her hand, "look at the pair o' yeh. Las' time I saw yeh, yeh were babies. Harry, don' yeh look like yer dad? With your mum's eyes o' course. An' Lyra, well yeh look like the pair of them, don't yeh?"

Maia smiled, "They're growing up too fast," she told Hagrid, "Harry's going to Hogwarts this time."

"Ah well I'll see yeh there," Hagrid nodded, "yeh'll love it. Great place, but I'm sure yeh've heard all about it. And what about _you_ lot?" he added, looking at the adults, "Head of the Auror Office, another Auror, a Healer. Regulus tells me yer all doin' well."

"We are," James replied, "and what about you? What brings you to Diagon Alley?"

Hagrid suddenly looked a bit shifty, "Hogwarts business. Dumbledore sent me. Very secret."

Maia and Sirius exchanged a look, knowing what Harry was like with secrets.

"Well we'd better let you get on then," Maia told him, "and you probably shouldn't say any more."

The group all stepped into the bank and Hagrid said goodbye to them, telling Harry he'd see him soon enough at the school.

James stepped up to one of the goblins behind the counter and told them they wished to access the Potter family vault. James and Maia had set up personal bank accounts for each of their children, although neither of them had the need to use them yet, so they hadn't given them the keys.

The others hung back as James spoke to the goblin and Maia watched Hagrid approach the goblin at the next counter. Hagrid was not known for being quiet and they watched him hand over a letter.

"Letter from Professor Dumbledore," he said, "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."

Maia looked at her brother and raised her eyebrows as they both wondered what that might be. Maia also noticed her son watching Hagrid with interest and she shook her head. The boy had a habit of listening in and trying to gather information and she was sure it wouldn't do him any good, if he'd inherited his father's knack for getting into trouble.

"Harry, do you want to come to the vault?" James asked his son, as the goblin waited to escort them.

"Really? Can I?" Harry asked eagerly. He couldn't remember ever getting to go in the carriage and to the vault. The cart only held two passengers and he and Lyra always argued about who got to go, so it always ended in just one of their parents going, and the other waiting with the children, or both of their parents going and he and Lyra waiting with Sirius or Remus, if they were there.

"Muuum, it's not fair," Lyra insisted as soon as she heard it and watched her father and brother follow the goblin towards the vaults.

"Now, now Pup," Sirius told his niece, "you can go next time."

"There's supposed to be a dragon down there, I want to _see_ it," Lyra insisted.

"That's only a rumour," Maia pointed out, "when Harry goes to school, you won't have to fight anyone for who gets to do what. You'll get first pick of everything so stop being whiny."

"I just want to see the dragon Mum," Lyra said.

Sirius scoffed, "You and me both, kid."

As soon as James and Harry came back, as James was stuffing the pouch of money inside his robes, Lyra tugged on his sleeve, "Dad did you see the dragon?"

"Not this time angel," James told her with a fond smile, "one day though." Looking over the top of her head and locking eyes with his wife, he asked, "where to first?"

"Madam Malkin's," Maia told him.

The group walked to Madam Malkin's together and on the way, Maia fell into step with her husband as Sirius chatted to the children. They shared a quiet, hurried conversation and agreed that Maia would go with Harry for his robes and James would go to the menagerie and buy him an owl of his own.

James announced that he was going to buy some owl food, once they got to Madam Malkin's shop and Lyra insisted on going with her dad to look at the animals. Sirius decided to stay with his sister and Maia rolled her eyes when he announced it – her brother had never got out of the habit of being her bodyguard.

As soon as they stepped through the doors, Madam Malkin – a squat little witch dressed all in mauve – smiled at them.

"Hogwarts, is it?" she asked, scanning Harry and then looking up at Maia and Sirius. To Maia, she added, "I'll take care of him, got the lot in here. Another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

Madam Malkin walked away and Maia gave Harry a gentle push in the back, "Go on, sweetheart."

Madam Malkin had him stand on a stool next to another boy, who appeared to be the same age, and immediately started pinning long black robes to the right length.

The boy was very pale with a pointed face and white-blonde hair that was slicked back. He looked at Harry and for a moment, Maia thought he was going to recognise him. The boy _looked _like he was trying to place him, and it wouldn't have been surprising if he did. Every child in the wizarding world had grown up hearing stories about the hero Harry Potter, and depending on what publications the household bought, would have seen his face too.

Maia and Sirius stood a way off from where the boys were being fitted for their robes, close enough to hear the conversation and keep an eye on Harry, but Maia took the opportunity to look at travelling cloaks. Hers was getting worn out – maybe she'd great herself to a new one.

"The boy looks familiar," Maia whispered, certain that they weren't close enough for the boys and the witches fitting them to hear the conversation as long as they spoke quietly.

"I know," Sirius whispered. He too felt like he'd seen the face before, there was something in him that he'd definitely seen, but he couldn't place it. Maybe Harry would get a name out of him, and that would make it easier.

Maia glanced over her shoulder to see the boys making conversation and Harry didn't look particularly happy.

The other boy spoke in a bored drawl as he said, "Father's next door buying my books and my mother's up the street looking at wands. Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why the first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully Father into getting me one and smuggle it in somehow."

Ok, so the boy was a spoilt child, Maia immediately decided on hearing the world "bully."

"Have _you _got a broom?" the boy asked.

"Yes," Harry replied, looking like he didn't want to be in the conversation, "it's a Cleansweep."

The boy didn't look impressed at all, "Oh. Well _I _have the latest Nimbus. Father says it's a crime if i'm not picked for my house and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?"

"I'm not sure," Harry replied honestly, "my parents were Gryffindors but my mum's family were traditionally Slytherins."

"I know _I'll_ be in Slytherin," the boy said proudly, "all our family have been. Imagine being in Hufflepuff – I think I'd leave, wouldn't you? I say, are they your parents?"

The boy sounded exactly like someone she didn't want Harry mixing with. She knew they'd joked about Harry smuggling a broom in, and Merlin knew they'd joked about Hufflepuff when they were 11, but never with that sort of venom in their voices. Maia forced herself not to turn around and gripped Sirius' arm to signal that they should carry on acting normally. She pulled out a deep purple coloured travelling cloak and contemplated it.

"That child is a brat," Sirius whispered. Maia nodded.

"That's my mum and my uncle," Harry replied.

"So, they're _our _kind then, aren't they?" the boy continued.

Maia heard her son suddenly sound cold as he replied, "They're a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."

At this point, Maia turned around to watch the boys. Harry was wearing the same defiant look that Maia seen on her brother's face many times, and she knew often graced her own. She and Sirius watched the boy, both trying to work out why he was so familiar, and the boy continue

"Good. I don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. What's your surname, anyway?"

Maia hoped Harry wouldn't tell him and was glad when before he had a chance to answer, Madam Malkin told Harry that he was all done, and Harry gladly jumped down from the footstool. That boy sounded like every pampered little pureblood that Maia's parents had forced her to associate with and tried to push on her as friends. Including the one they'd once tried to make her marry.

"See you at Hogwarts, I suppose," the boy called out as Maia paid for Harry's robes and they left the shop.

Well, _he _was charming," Harry drawled when they stood on the street, with all of his father's sarcasm and his mother and uncle's defiance.

Maia and Sirius exchanged a smirk and Maia patted Harry's shoulder, "I'm afraid you'll meet a few types like that at Hogwarts. Children of old dark families. They're not all like that mind you, I mean look at me and Sirius -"

"And Uncle Regulus," Harry added.

Maia nodded. She'd never told her children that their uncle had been a Death Eater during the war – how on earth did you break news like that to your children?

When Harry was old enough to understand, she and James had sat him down and explained that there was a war and an evil wizard had tried to kill him, that he was the only person who'd ever survived the curse, and that he'd vanquished the evil wizard – though they had no way of knowing if he'd ever return. As he got older, they'd answered any questions he had and he was aware that Voldemort's followers were called Death Eaters, and that lots were in the wizard prison, and some had gotten away because there was no proof, but there were things he didn't know.

They'd never told him that they were betrayed by a man who'd been their friend for years and they'd never told him Regulus had been on the other side – what was the point, when they were back on good terms with him? He also didn't know about the prophecy, instead assuming that he'd come after him because his parents were powerful wizards who were opposed to him. Maia wouldn't be surprised if they had to tell him one day, but he was a child and they'd been desperate to protect him and only tell him what he needed to know.

Sirius took over, "And Uncle Regulus, yes. The point is, you're always going to meet people like that. Their parents have taught them that pure-blood is the best, and all you can do is-"

"You don't have to tell me not to mix with them," Harry told the pair of them bluntly, "I know the kind of people that I want to be friends with."

Maia smiled at him, slightly apologetically, "Of course you do. Oh look, he's your Dad!"

James strode towards them with a grin on his face and Lyra in tow. He was carrying a cage, and inside the cage was a beautiful snowy white owl.

"Here we are Prongslet," James announced proudly, "she's all yours?"

"An owl … for me?" Harry asked dumbly.

"Yes! You've got to keep in touch with your Mum and me, haven't you? All the kids want owls, and this one's a beauty, just look at her!"

Harry looked very pleased with the owl, who was sleeping soundly with her head under her wing. She was so beautiful and Maia wanted to reach out a stroke her.

"Thanks Dad!" Harry beamed, "she's great!"

James smiled and gave Harry a one-armed hug, "No problem. Did you get your robes all sorted? Yep? Let's go do the boring stuff now – books. Come on, I'll carry the owl."

In Flourish and Blotts Maia held the school supplies list and read the titles out to Harry, who went to search for them whilst Lyra explored the books on beginners hexes and jinxes, privately wondering how mad her Mum would be if she borrowed her wand to try some of them. It might be funny. Nothing dangerous, just the really simple ones.

As Maia's arms became too full with the books, she made James carry the rest of them and together they went to the till. In the queue, she found herself standing behind a tall figure with very long white-blond hair pulled back into a ponytail with a silky black band.

She saw James roll his eyes and raised her eyebrows at him silently in question, no room to talk since the man was right in front of them.

James mouthed something that she couldn't quite catch and she assumed it was the man's name. She racked her brains trying to think of anyone man she knew who had such long blonde hair and came up with one name – Lucius Malfoy.

She didn't know Malfoy well, but had come across him several times. He was a few years above them at school and married her cousin Narcissa, who was only too glad to have a good pure-blood marriage. Malfoy had been a death eater and they'd come across him in the field, but as soon as Voldemort fell he claimed he was under the imperius curse, made a large donation to the ministry and was never convicted. He now occupied a position at the ministry and was always snooping around, from what James and Sirius said.

The last time Maia had seen Lucius and her dear cousin Narcissa had been at the ministry's christmas ball for all its employees. The ball was held on boxing day and it was usually fun. Maia hadn't gone when the children were very young, preferring at home with them, but as they got older, she didn't feel so bad about leaving them with Remus for a few hours. Since James had become the head of his department, it had become more important that he attend.

Maia had said a curt "Hello" to her cousin, who had sneered at her clothes, and that had been it.

Malfoy paid for his things, then Maia paid for hers, praying that Malfoy hadn't seen them. Unfortunately as they were leaving the shop, Malfoy was standing outside with his wife and son. It made sense when his son turned out to be the pointy faced boy from Madam Malkin's.

"Ah _Potter_," Malfoy sneered when their eyes met.

James tried to offer a smile but it didn't reach his eyes, "Malfoy. A family outing, is it?"

Narcissa, a thin woman with long blonde hair, who might have been pretty if it wasn't for the look of disgust she permanently wore, took hold of her son at the shoulder, "Draco is going to Hogwarts this year."

"Hello Cissy," Maia said, determined to be pleasant to her cousin because she knew it would annoy her even more. She wore a fake smile but her grey eyes were cool as steel.

"Mrs _Potter_," Narcissa replied, glaring at James.

"Harry's going to Hogwarts too," Sirius chipped in proudly. Draco Malfoy stared at Harry, alarmed that he'd already met the boy.

"Well then, best of luck Mr Potter," Lucius said, though he couldn't have made it sound more sinister if he'd tried, "let us hope that you turn out to be less of a disappointment to your family than your mother was to hers."

Maia saw both James and Sirius tense on either side of her and felt Sirius take a step forward but rolled her eyes expertly, "Excuse us Malfoy, we have better places to be and we'd like to spend our day in better company. Come along, everyone."

With that she turned her back on the three Malfoys and rested a hand each on Lyra and Harry's shoulders, turning them around and ushering them away. James and Sirius followed and were immediately on either side of her.

"Why didn't you let us say more?" James demanded, "he deserved a mouthful after what he said about you!"

"What's the point?" Maia replied cooly, "it's Harry's birthday and we're not going to waste any time thinking about the Malfoys. And we're certainly not going to be like Lucius and stoop to telling an 11 year old child bad things about his parents."

"I've decided, Mum," Harry said firmly, "I am _not _going to be friends with that boy."

Maia laughed at her son, "That's nice. Now, you need a cauldron."

She was sure Draco would try and befriend Harry. People like that always did – trying to stick to the people they thought were most popular, clinging to them in the hopes they'd get some of the fame and glory for themselves.

Half an hour later, Harry owned a standard pewter cauldron – even though he'd tried to convince Maia to let him get a solid gold one because they were cool – and a set of scales and a telescope.

"Just a wand now!" James told his son eagerly.

Harry had been waiting for this moment for years. Getting a wand was the most exciting part of all, he thought. Lyra was especially jealous that she didn't have a wand and Sirius pacified her by suggesting they go to Florean Fortescue's place for ice-cream sundaes, and the others could meet them there once Harry had a wand.

Ollivander's was a narrow, shabby shop with peeling letters over the door and a single wand on a faded purple cushion on the window. It had been 20 years since Maia or James had been in the shop – wands lasted a long time if you looked after them, and even with all the use it had had, Maia's wand was as good as the day she bought it.

James nudged Harry into the shop and Maia followed them, feeling the hairs on her arms sand on end as the shop tingled with its secret magic.

"Good morning," a soft voice said.

Maia tried not to chuckle as Harry jumped and she rested her hand on his shoulder to still him. Suddenly, standing before the three of them, was a little old man with wide, pale eyes – Mr Ollivander.

"Good morning," Maia replied, smiling at the man, whose attention was fixed solely on Harry.

"Erm, hello," Harry said awkwardly.

"Yes, yes, yes," Mr Ollivander said, surveying Harry, looking briefly at James and Maia and back at Harry, "I thought I'd be seeing you soon Harry Potter. You have your mother's eyes of course, very distinctive indeed. It seems only yesterday that you were in here buying your wand, Mrs Potter."

Harry looked a bit uneasy but Maia smiled at his reassuringly as Mr Ollivander continued, as was his way.

He spoke to Harry about his parent's wands, "Your mother's wand is seven inches long, good and swishy, made of willow with a dragon heartstring core. Very good for herbology and charms. Your father here, on the other hand, favoured a mahogany wand. Eleven inches, pliable, excellent for transfiguration. Well I say he favoured it – it's really the wand that chooses the wizard."

Ollivander took a step closer, eyes trained on Harry's scar and Maia felt uncomfortable with the old man scrutinising her son so closely. Harry shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other and Mr Ollivander raised his hand as if he was going to touch the scar but glanced at Harry's parents and thought better of it.

Still, he spoke about it. "And that's where … I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it. Thirteen and a half inches, yew, very powerful and in the wrong hands … well if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do ..."

"Shall we get Harry all measured up?" Maia interjected, for which her son looked very grateful.

Mr Ollivander measured Harry's right arm from shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head – Harry looked very confused at the last. The tape measure did this by itself whilst Mr Ollivander flitted around the shelves, picking out wands, talking about wand cores and how all the wands were unique.

Maia felt like crying with pride when Harry took hold of the first wand.

"Go on," she told him gently when he looked very unsure about what to do with it. At her side, James wrapped an arm around her shoulders, sensing how emotional she was feeling about it and not blaming her. How was their baby boy old enough to be wielding a wand?

Harry waved the wand but Mr Ollivander snatched it off him almost immediately. Harry was given wand after wand as the old man recited the woods and cores, properties and what it might be good for.

After a long time Mr Ollivander picked another wand and smiled, "Tricky customer, eh? Well not to worry, I think this one … unusual combination … holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple. Try this one."

Harry took the wand and from the look on his face, Maia could tell that this was the one. He raised the wand above his head, swishing is through the air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end of it, throwing dancing spots of light onto the walls.

Maia beamed, "Oh well done Harry," she said proudly, as James clapped his hands and she joined in. Maia didn't fail to notice that the sparks were red and gold and wondered if this was foreshadowing – was he such a Gryffindor that if even came out of his wand.

"Bravo!" Mr Ollivander agreed, "Very good but … well, curious. Very curious."

It sounded ominous and Maia frowned slightly, "Curious?" she repeated.

Mr Ollivander met her eyes and he looked very serious. After a pause, he told the three of them, "I remember every wand I ever sold. Every single wand. It just so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in this wand gave just one other feather. It is curious indeed that young Mr Potter should be destined for this wand when its brother … its brother is responsible for that scar."

A shiver ran down Maia's spine at the very thought of it and she could tell that Harry was unnerved too. What was the appropriate response to that?

Mr Ollivander didn't seem to notice the awkwardness and continued, "Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard remember … and I think we must all expect great things from you, Harry Potter. After all … He Who Must Not Be Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great."

Harry shivered and Maia frowned – was there any need for that? She didn't like to be reminded of the connection between the darkest wizard who had ever lived, and her son. It was enough that there was a prophecy saying her son would be the one to defeat Voldemort – a prophecy which was hopefully fulfilled, though she was one of the people who believed Voldemort would probably return some day.

They payed seven galleons for his wand and left the shop, into the light and off for ice-cream.

"How was it?" Sirius asked as soon as he entered.

"Creepy," Harry replied, picking up a menu though he'd been enough times to know what he wanted without really looking.

Sirius chuckled, "He's like that. _Terrified_ your mum and me when we went for our wands, and if you'd seen the parents we had, you'd know we weren't easily scared."

"Can I see it?" Lyra asked eagerly as she picked a lump of chocolate out of her sundae with her fingers and munched on it.

Harry would much rather just pick an ice-cream and get to eat it but he imagined if he were the younger sibling, he'd be feeling pretty jealous now and it was easy enough to just pacify his sister so he pulled out his new wand and let her admire it.

Maia enjoyed a strawberry and banana ice cream sundae, even though James kept trying to steal bites of it, offering her some of his chocolate and toffee dessert in return.

When all ice cream was finished, they travelled to Augusta Longbottom's house to collect Neville. Neville was very happy to see his best friend and was jealous that he hadn't gotten his school supplies, but his grandmother told him they could go soon enough.

He allowed Maia to wrap him up in a hug, with less fuss than Harry and Lyra usually did. He'd always been very fond of his godmother, who he called Aunt Maia. She was good for him. She didn't put him down like Gran did, she didn't constantly remind him he wasn't as brilliant as his father and she let him do more than Gran did.

When they back to Potter Manor, Remus was waiting for them with one more present.

"This is from me and Sirius," Remus told Harry as the family gathered in the living room and watched Harry unwrap it.

Harry looked very excited as he felt the package, trying to guess what it was. It wasn't difficult to guess and he looked as if he couldn't believe it as he unwrapped it, throwing the brown paper to the floor and revealing the Nimbus 2000.

Harry stared. He'd admired the broomstick in the window of the shop earlier that day, wondering what it would be like to own such an amazing broomstick but knowing he already had a broom and he didn't really have any need for another one.

"This is … this is the new Nimbus," he said, shaking his head as Neville admired it, reaching out to run a hand along it.

"It is," Sirius agreed.

Harry thanked his uncles a million times and hugged both of them tightly. Maia wasn't sure exactly how many thank yous he made because she left the room and stood in the hallway to summon his birthday cake, a knife and several plates.

She made them all float in the air, used her wand to ignite the candle on the cake, and then turned off the living room lights.

There were noises of confusion from the children but Maia walked back into the living room preceded by the cake and began to sing Happy Birthday, and soon they were all singing.

Harry laughed when they were finished and blew out the candles on his cake as Maia encouraged him to make a wish, and soon they were all eating chocolate cake for lunch.

Harry spent the rest of his birthday hanging out with Neville – he briefly tried to teach him to fly for what would have been the hundredth time but it proved to be a bad idea so they quickly abandoned it.

In the evening they all went out to a nice muggle restaurant just outside Puddlemere. It was quite a fancy place and they'd never been before but Remus had seen it whilst he was out walking one day and suggested it.

Dinner was an enjoyable affair and Remus was careful to cast charms that would prevent any of the muggles nearby overhearing their conversation, as long as they weren't too loud.

Maia convinced James to share a bottle of wine with her in the restaurant but he didn't have much of a taste for wine so she ended up drinking the majority of it herself. It was rare that she drank much around the children, and she hadn't meant to, but they spent longer in the restaurant than she'd expected, conversation was flowing nicely and it was a special occasion so they were all splashing out a bit.

When they got back to the house it was getting late and the children fetched some snacks from the kitchen and went up to Harry's room for a sleepover. Well, the boys did. Maia imagined Lyra went back to her own room. As long as it was a weekend and they weren't noisy, Maia didn't mind Harry and Neville staying up late and messing about.

Maia herself was pretty tipsy when they got home. It had been a while since she'd had much to drink, so no-one was surprised.

Sirius, a little tipsy himself, strode towards the kitchen when they got home and the children had gone upstairs, "Drinks!" he announced, "firewhiskey for everyone!"

"Not for _this_ one," James corrected, wrapping an arm around Maia's waist as Sirius and Remus disappeared into the kitchen.

Maia pouted up at him, "C'mon let's have a drink," she said, swaying slightly.

James laughed at her, "Love, I think you've had enough." He was trying to sound serious but she was pouting up at him and it was all her own fault that she'd drawn all of his attention to her lips. She had lovely lips, full and red, especially when she was biting at them, the way she was currently tugging at her lower lip with her teeth.

"What're you staring at?" Maia asked, knowingly, turning her body in to face him and causing him to wrap his arm further around her waist, pulling her against his body without even realising what he was doing.

"You," he replied, bringing one hand up to push her hair away from her face and cupping her cheek.

"Are you two coming or not?!" Sirius shouted from the kitchen, "I've poured us all a glass of firewhiskey!"

"Be there in a minute!" shouted James over his shoulder, though it looked as if he had no intention of doing so.

Maia swayed slightly in his arms, wearing a silly tipsy smile and James loved her for it. He stroked her cheek with his thumb and leaned down until his lips were inches from hers.

"We should be in the kitchen," Maia said, staring at his lips and making no effort to move anywhere near the kitchen.

"Mm, if you say so. I've got a better idea though," James replied, shifting closer so his lips brushed hers as they spoke. He didn't give her chance to reply as he covered her mouth with his, kissing her deeply.

When they broke apart, she was breathless and she licked her lips, "Wow, you know, I have a better idea than firewhiskey too."

James laughed at her and she squealed when he swept her off her feet and into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck and peppering his cheeks with kisses.

James grinned at her as he started to walked up the stairs and he shouted in the direction of the kitchen, "Actually, Maia's drunk and tired! I'm going to have to put her to bed!"

Maia grinned at him, "As long as you're _joining _me in bed."

"Absolutely."

* * *

**Author's Note: To answer some questions about pairings, Harry would probably still be with Ginny unless enough people have strong feelings about it. Lyra maybe with Neville, Fred or George, but it's a long time off and open to suggestions.**

**Remus will probably be with Tonks, but as Tonks is Maia and Sirius' cousin and working in the auror office with James and Sirius every day, I figure Maia would want her to be in her life, so they'd see quite a bit of her, and Tonks and Remus would get together earlier than they did in the actual series.**

**Sirius and Regulus will eventually be paired up with someone but I haven't decided who yet.**


	3. The Journey to Hogwarts

Chapter Three

Harry's last month at home was strange. Maia found the thought of her first born child going off to school where she wouldn't see him for months on end, terrifying.

She knew she was going to miss him all the time and she couldn't imagine him not being in the house every day. She'd never spent more than a night or so away from Harry, and although she knew she had to let go at some point, she couldn't imagine not having him in the house every single day.

Maia and James were working, as usual, for most of Harry's last month at home, but Harry noticed that his mother was making all of his favourite meals more often than she used to, hugging him more often, and offering to play quidditch with him all the time.

The family took a a trip away to the south of France for a few days in the middle of August, without Sirius who hadn't been able to wrangle the time off work, since James was already going to be missing. Maia had had had to pick up extra night shifts to make up for the time off, since she was also taking time off in September to go away with James, but it was worth it to have a family holiday. She was insistent that they should have holiday each year like other families, especially because she and Sirius never had.

Harry loved his new owl and she seemed to get on with the family owl too, but she brought back far more dead mice than Maia would have liked. Harry named her Hedwig – a name he'd found when flipping through his new school books.

On the first of September Maia had the morning off. It hadn't been difficult to get someone to cover for her – the first of September was a very big day for witches and wizards with children, and the healers with no children or younger or adult children were often happy to cover shifts so parents could say goodbye to their children.

James, as the head of the office, had decided that he and Sirius could be spared until lunch time too, and the rest of the department had agreed.

Maia served Harry the biggest pile of pancakes he'd had in months, and she let him have all the toppings and all the sauces, without once commenting that he was going to rot his teeth.

Lyra was very much enjoying being allowed to eat all of this for breakfast, and secretly thought it was a bit of a shame that special occasions and big days didn't come around more often. Still, she was going to miss her brother, she'd decided. And Neville too.

Maia was especially cheery throughout breakfast but the adults around the table saw straight through it. Remus and James had known her 20 years, and Sirius 31. They all knew she had a habit of putting on a front when she wasn't feeling fine, and they all recognised the mask and the faux-cheeriness, though the children didn't notice.

"All set Harry?" Sirius asked through a mouthful of pancakes.

Harry nodded, "My things are all packed and Hedwig is ready. Are you all coming?" he asked, looking at Sirius and Remus.

"Of course," Remus replied with a grin, "we've got to come and see you off, it's a big day. Are you excited?"

Harry nodded again, "Yeah, I've heard so much about it, I can't wait to go. How are we getting there?"

"I've borrowed a ministry car," replied James, "brought it home from work with me this morning."

Maia rolled her eyes, "Your dad's going to try not to kill us all and we're driving to King's Cross. We're leaving in half an hour, so I hope you _do _have everything Harry."

"I'm not going to _kill_ anyone!" James protested, "I'm an excellent driver!"

"You own a muggle driving license, that doesn't make you an excellent driver," Maia retorted.

"But-"

"Did you, or did you _not _confound the instructor?"

"Well … _yeah … _but that's not the point," James replied.

"I still think you should go in the ministry car and Harry and I should go on the motorbike," Sirius suggested for the twentieth time in the last twenty-four hours, making Maia roll her eyes. Sirius had had that motorbike since the war. He rarely used it these days but could never have parted with it.

"I'm happy to go on the motorbike Mum," Lyra offered.

Maia snorted, "I know you are, sweetheart, but I'm afraid no-one is going on the motorbike."

After breakfast Harry went to brush his teeth and James followed him, helping him bring down his trunk and Hedwig in her cage. Maia saw James take him aside, into the living room, clutching the invisibility cloak in one hand and smiled to herself as she went back into the kitchen and cleaned up the plates.

"Is he handing over the invisibility cloak?" asked Remus knowingly, pushing the kitchen chairs in and helping Maia clean up.

"Yep," Maia said.

"Oh dear. Who knows what trouble he'll get himself into," Remus said, a smile tugging at his lips as he shook his head.

Maia smiled too, "I know. We weren't sure whether to hand it over but … James convinced me."

She and James had discussed it a few days ago. The invisibility cloak had been in James' family for as long as he knew, passed down from father to son. James had received it from his own father the morning that he went to Hogwarts and it seemed right to hand it down.

Maia had been reluctant – it seemed to be encouraging him to get into trouble and do things he shouldn't, but James pointed out that they'd done their fair share of sneaking out and wandering around and they were ok. They had to let the boy _live _a bit after all, and how much mischief could he really get into? Together they agreed Harry would be given the cloak but told to act responsibly and they would reserve the right to take it off him if he was misusing it. Maia decided that she trusted him enough with it, and when she thought of all the fun they'd had at school, maybe it would be ok as long as he used it sensibly.

She and James barely used the cloak now anyway. James liked to use it to sneak up on her with and scare her, and he often lent it to the children – particularly Lyra – to carry out pranks. Lyra had always liked playing with the cloak, and James had always entertained her with it when she was a baby.

Maia remembered one particular time James had gotten into trouble doing so. He'd been playing with Lyra, who was 1 at the time, thrown it over her, turned his back for a second and not been able to find her again because she'd rolled halfway across the room and dragged the cloak with her. Maia had been furious and hadn't spoken to him for over 24 hours until he made the most grovelling apology.

"I give it a week before he's caught out of bounds," Sirius sang from his place leaning against the doorway.

"Don't encourage him," Maia said, though she wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

"We could put some money on it, if you like," Sirius suggested.

Maia shook her head at him, flicking her wand to clean one of the plates, "Oh no, I'm not putting money on whether my son is going to behave at school."

"Is that on a moral ground, or because you think you'll lose the money?" Remus asked curiously.

"Don't encourage Sirius," Maia told him, "Harry's going to go to Hogwarts and be a model pupil."

Remus looked doubtful, "I'm sure he'll be brilliant and talented but if you think for one minute that he won't have inherited the Potter-Black talent for trouble and love of wandering the corridors, you should probably adjust your expectations."

Maia couldn't help but smirk. She knew she and James had been far from model pupils so she couldn't expect Harry to be perfect, and she knew he had to make his own mistakes, but he wasn't just an average 11 year old, he was Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived. People were bound to try and befriend him because he was famous, and she knew some people thought Harry would become a great dark wizard himself one day, and that was how he'd been able to defeat Voldemort – hopefully they'd stop thinking that when they met him. It was going to be so much harder to shelter him when he was at the school and the press were bound to try to follow him and find things out.

She was glad that Regulus was at the school to keep an eye on him, and he assured her that Dumbledore wouldn't let anyone near any of his students, let alone Harry Potter, the savior of the wizarding world.

Soon it was time to go and they all clambered into the large ministry car with James at the wheel. Maia sat beside him with her wand in hand. He was a dangerous driver and she was ready to confound or obliviate anyone who saw him do something he shouldn't. The car was already charmed to travel very fast without anyone noticing but it didn't stop James from making mistakes and nearly killing people.

When they all arrived at King's Cross in one piece and the car was parked up, Maia was pleasantly surprised.

Maia fetched Harry a trolley and James loaded the luggage onto it, putting Hedwig in her cage on top of it.

"Here we go Prongslet," James grinned, "on to platform nine and three-quarters."

He wrapped one arm around his son's shoulders and laid his free hand on the handle of the trolley, as Harry put both of his beside his father's and the two of them started to push the trolley through the train station.

Maia smiled at her boys and at her side, she felt Lyra reach for her hand.

She took hold of her hand as they followed James and Harry. Lyra would always be her little girl but sometimes it was easy to forget she was 9. She was so sassy and had so much spirit, but she was just 9 years old, now reaching for her mother's hand in a busy, unfamiliar environment.

When they got to the wall between platforms 9 and 10, Harry suddenly looked unsure.

"So, this is it?" he asked.

"This is it," James confirmed, pointing at the wall, "all we have to do is walk straight through this wall. I'll go through with you and we can do it at a bit of a run – it makes it easier. Are you ready?"

"Are you ready, Ly?" Maia asked her daughter.

Lyra nodded silently and they watched Harry stare at the wall, as if trying to psyche himself up. Maia noticed a woman with flaming red hair walking towards them, followed by several red haired children pushing a similar trolleys to Harry's, but she barely paid attention to them. They needed to get a move on, she thought, before too much traffic built up on the muggle platform.

She watched with pride as James tightened his arm around Harry's shoulders, muttered some words of encouragement and they both started moving, striding towards the wall with purpose and disappearing.

"Wow," Lyra breathed, shaking her head.

Maia smiled at her daughter as their identical grey eyes met, and her daughter's were filled with wonder.

"Ready?" Maia asked.

"It's … we'll be ok, won't we?" Lyra asked, suddenly feeling unsure.

"Of course we will," Maia replied, "they're just on the other side of the wall. All we have to do is walk. By the time you get to go to Hogwarts, you'll be an expert at this. Let's go."

On Lyra's other side, her godfather took hold of her other hand and squeezed it reassuringly, and Maia was reminded of all the reasons why Remus ha been chosen to be her daughter's godfather as she watched Lyra nodded and look much calmer.

"Come on," Remus said, putting on foot forward.

Together the three of them strode through the wall and a second later they were standing on platform nine and three quarters. Sirius appeared behind them a second later, resting his hand in the small of Maia's back and manouvering them away from the magical entrance and towards James and Harry.

It was magical to be standing here again, Maia thought as she looked around and tried to take everything in, and she watched her children stare at everything in sight.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked Harry with a grin, gesturing towards the beautiful scarlet steam train.

"It's … amazing," Harry replied honestly.

"Look Mum, it's Neville!" Lyra said, tugging on Maia's sleeve, having let go of her hand and Remus' too.

They started towards Neville and his grandmother, James and Harry taking the lead. Maia could feel people looking at them, and she supposed she shouldn't be surprised. Sirius was suddenly at her side like a bodyguard and at some point he'd taken hold of her arm, and Remus was on Lyra's other side. Nobody approached them, but Maia knew plenty of people were looking.

She glanced around to see if she recognised anyone – plenty of people she went to school with must have children around Harry age, she thought, but there was no time to ponder if as they reached Augusta and Neville.

Neville looked incredibly nervous when they approached and was being reminded by his grandmother not to lose his toad. Maia rolled her eyes – that damned toad. Neville was always losing it, and why on _earth _did he have a pet toad anyway? Who had a toad these days? It just showed how ridiculously outdated his grandmother was.

"Morning Augusta!" Sirius called with a cheery grin.

The old woman sniffed and tried to smile, "Hello Sirius," she said, though her greeting was slightly warmer when she nodded at the rest of them, "Hello everyone. I was just telling Neville to keep an eye on his pet – he doesn't want to lose it."

"Are you all ready?" Maia asked Neville after giving him a tight hug, "looking forward to it?"

Neville nodded, "Yes Aunt Maia."

Maia smiled at him, "You'll love it, I promise, don't look so nervous."

They made small talk for a while, because Maia didn't want to put her son on the train and have to say goodbye to him, but eventually Remus interrupted.

"The boys should be getting on the train now," he said, "it'll be hell trying to get a carriage."

Maia agreed and they all made their way over to the train, searching for an empty compartment. As it got busy again Maia grasped Lyra's hand and watched as Neville and Harry went off in front, chattering away about all the things they could see on the platform. The current topic of conversation was a boy with dreadlocks they'd passed, who'd been showing his friend a box, out of which a long hairy leg was poking.

Maia and Lyra got separated from the boys by a crowd of people, and Remus, Sirius and James were stuck even further behind them. Maia had lost track of Mrs Longbottom, but thought she was in front with the boys.

Maia spied two older boys with ginger hair helping Harry and Neville put their trunks into a compartment and she smiled and tried to push through the crowds.

Harry didn't realise he'd lost his parents as he and Neville walked down the platform, looking for an empty compartment. He glanced over his shoulder to see them some way back and wasn't worried. He could feel people looking at him, but his parents had taught him over the years that people would stare, and he should just ignore it if they weren't directly talking to him – and if they were walking to him, he should be polite but not let them fuss over him or take advantage.

As he struggled to throw his trunk into a compartment and dropped it on his foot, a voice asked, "Need some help with that?"

Harry smiled gratefully, "Please."

The boy looked a bit older and was tall and lanky, with flaming red hair. He shouted a name – Fred – and a moment later, there was an identical boy at his side. Together the twins heaved his luggage, and then Neville's onto the platform.

Harry heaved a sigh and pushed his hair away from his forehead, and immediately realised his mistake when the pair of them stared.

"What's that?" one twin asked.

"Erm ..."

Harry should have known to come up with a better reply, and Neville shook his head at him. The twins caught on quickly and stared at each other, then at Harry.

"Blimey!" one of them said, "are you-?"

"He is, aren't you? You're Harry Potter."

Harry nodded, "Erm … yes, I am."

As Maia got within a few feet of her son, she noted that the two boys who'd helped him were staring at him in awe. So they knew who he was, she thought. Harry looked like he didn't know what to do with himself, and Maia rolled her eyes. They'd tried to teach him how to deal with it, but it must be difficult, she thought. Merlin knew she found all the attention hard enough, and she was a grown up.

"Harry, there you are!" she exclaimed as she reached his side. She looked at the boys he was with – twins, tall and lanky, flaming red hair. They'd been with the woman on the other side of the platform, she remembered. They were familiar, but she was only focused on her son right now.

The twin boys smiled at Maia politely and told Harry and Neville in unison, "See you at Hogwarts," and then they disappeared.

Everyone else caught up and they congregated outside the carriage.

Neville was busy being lectured by his grandmother, and the Potter Manor household all congregated around Harry.

"You should get on the train, I suppose," Maia said, smiling at her son although she felt like crying.

"I'll be ok, Mum," Harry told her.

"I know you will," she replied, "I'm just going to miss you, that's all, but you'll be home for Christmas and you'll write to me, won't you? Of course you will. Come here, give me a hug."

She drew her son into her arms and hugged him tightly, rubbing his back as they rocked slightly from side to side. Harry didn't make a fuss and let her hug him for far longer than he would have actually liked. Maia had a difficult time letting go of him, and only let go because she could see James over her shoulder, clearly desperate to say goodbye too.

As Maia let go, she glanced around and saw that the red-haired twins were with their mother, an older boy, a younger boy and a girl who was clinging to her mother's side. They were all looking in their direction, but quickly looked away when they noticed Maia looking at them. Maia's eyes lingered on the red-haired woman – Molly Weasley, she realised.

James engulfed Harry in a tight hug, and then Sirius hugged him so tight Maia thought he was going to break a rib. Remus was the last to hug him and when he let go, Maia reached out to rest her hand on her son's shoulders.

"Ok," she said, "you're going to have to get on the train or it will leave without you. Have a great time. Try your best. You and Neville look after each other. If you've got any problems, you know I see Uncle Regulus every Sunday and you can always go to him, and you can always write to us. _Please_ behave yourself, don't get into trouble-"

James chuckled and added, "Or at least, don't get _caught _doing anything you shouldn't."

"Don't do anything we wouldn't do," Sirius added.

"Be careful," Remus chipped in.

"Look after yourself," Maia told him, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his cheek, before trying in vain to flatten down his hair and smiling when it didn't work. Her eyes filled with tears as she realised she was going to have to let of him now. "Have a great time, Harry. We'll see you at Christmas. I love you."

"I love you Mum," Harry replied, not wanting to see her cry over him, "I'll write soon."

James got in a final hug, and Maia turned to say goodbye to Neville, giving him a hug just as the whistle blew and people started to scramble onto the train.

Lyra shouted a goodbye after her brother, looking quite tearful, which was surprising because Lyra was _not_ a cryer.

"I want to go to Hogwarts," she sniffed as the train doors slammed and Neville and Harry took their seats I the compartment. Sirius pulled Lyra into a hug, for which Maia was grateful because she was preoccupied.

Maia hadn't expected to feel quite this devastated somehow. She knew she'd miss her son but she wasn't a crier either, and she hadn't been prepared for the tears that sprang in her eyes and that painful lump that rose in her throat as the train started to move.

She thought James' eyes looked suspiciously watery too but didn't get much of a chance to look at his face because he circled her, coming to stand behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. Maia rested one of her hands on one of his arms and waved wildly with her other hand as the train moved off.

Harry and Neville were hanging out of the window waving back at them and as the train picked up speed, they became smaller and smaller, and suddenly Maia couldn't see her son anymore, and she stopped smiling and let the tears she'd desperately been holding in, start to fall.

James quickly turned her around in his arms and he gave her a gentle smile as he brought both hands up to her face and wiped away her tears.

"Don't do that," he said, as Remus and Sirius tried to cheer Lyra up a few feet away.

"I can't help it," Maia sniffed, desperately trying to blink away the tears.

"We'll see him at Christmas," James told her, wiping away the new tears that fell with his thumbs, "it'll go quickly, I promise, and we can write to him all the time, and we'll get weekly updates from Regulus. It's ok, love."

Maia nodded, offering him a watery smile, and James grinned, "That's it," he said, dropping his hands from her face and reaching down to take hold of one of her hands.

She squeezed his hand wordlessly and he nodded and leaned in to press a kiss to her forehead.

"You have to go to work," James told her, "come on, I'll drive you."

Maia nodded and James stepped back a bit from her, still holding her hand, but breaking their tender little moment. Maia looked at her family to see Lyra watery eyed. She and James grinned at each other and then pulled Lyra in for a big hug, promising her that it was her time soon enough.

Maia looked around the platform as they started to walk back to the entrance into the muggle world. She saw many other families looking emotional about saying goodbye to their children, and other families catching up with each other. She noticed that Molly Weasley now only had one child with her – a girl, whose cheeks were red from crying and who was saying that she wanted to go to Hogwarts, just like Lyra.

Lyra looked happy enough now, holding onto Remus and Sirius' hands and hurrying in front of Maia and James. James wrapped his arm around Maia's waist as they followed them, and as he did so there was a low wolf-whistle from behind them.

Maia rolled her eyes, expecting to see a ridiculous reporter – since they hadn't seen any yet – and she ignored it. James however glanced over his shoulder to look at the offender and stopped in his tracks, causing Maia to stop too as his arm was still hooked around her.

"Jimmy Bell!" James grinned, turning around and making Maia turn with him.

Maia was pleasantly surprised to see the man in front of them. He was shorter and stockier than James, with already-thinning brown hair and he grinned broadly at the pair of them.

Jimmy Bell had been at Hogwarts with them and had been a chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team for years along with James and Maia. The quidditch team had all been fairly close – it was impossible not to be, with the amount of practise James had forced them to do.

Jimmy was likeable, and had been there on the night that Sirius – and the entirety of Gryffindor tower – found out about James and Maia's relationship. Sirius hadn't reacted badly, shouting at the pair of them and punching James so hard that his jaw had been bruised for weeks.

"I see you two are as wildly in love as ever," Jimmy said, his voice full of teasing.

"Well, you were _at_ the wedding," James replied, sticking his free hand out.

Jimmy shook James' hand firmly, and then smiled at Maia, "Good to see you." He turned to the woman at his side and gestured to her, "this is my wife, Sophia. Sophia, James and Maia Potter – we were at school together." To Maia, he added, "Look at the pair of you. You haven't aged a day. You look great."

"You're a liar," Maia replied, shaking his head, "I look like a mess, but it's good to see you."

Jimmy took in the tear tracks stained onto her face and smiled at her kindly, "It must be your boy's first time at Hogwarts? The first time is really difficult, but I think it gets easier."

"Really?" asked Maia hopefully.

Jimmy grinned, "Well, our Katie has just gone into her second year, so we don't have too much experience, but this year was definitely easier, wasn't it love?"

"It was," Sophia Bell replied, "it really was, and all my friends at work tell me it gets easier when they get older and older."

"That's good," Maia nodded, starting to feel better and relax a bit, which James clearly sensed as he rubbed his hand up down her side.

"So what house is your daughter in?" asked James.

"She's a Gryffindor," Jimmy replied proudly, "she's hoping to try out for the quidditch team this year. Hey, you won't believe who else has kids in Katie's year. Vince McLaggen -"

James grimaced at the mention of the man. McLaggen was a conceited idiot who had _not _been invited to their wedding. He'd been sort of fine until the moment in a seventh year quidditch practise when he – the keeper – tried to tell one of the beaters how to do their job and hit a bludger straight at Maia, sending her off her broom and into the hospital wing for two weeks.

"-has a son," Jimmy said, "and Mark Chang has a daughter."

James grimaced again. Mark Chang was a Ravenclaw chaser in their year and had had a reputation for flirting with all of the attractive girls at the school. Maia had actually been due to go on a date to Hogsmeade with him once but cancelled it because of her feelings for James.

As they stood and gossiped, Maia started to feel better and better and by the time James dropped her off at work, she thought about her son on that train to Hogwarts and thought that actually, maybe she could handle this.

Meanwhile on the train to Hogwarts, Harry had mixed feelings.

He was excited to go off and have all these new adventures and experience all the things that his parents and uncles had told him about, but wondered if he'd miss his parents. Sirius had once told him that he'd meet people at the school who would become his family, and that sounded pretty exciting too.

He was glad to have Neville with him. He and Neville had been friends for a long time, although they were very different, and it was difficult to convince Neville to do anything that was against the rules.

The train had only been gone for a few minutes when the door slid open and a red-haired boy stood there, looking apologetic, with the twins who'd helped him get his luggage onto the train.

"Anyone sitting there?" the youngest boy asked, "everywhere else is full."

"Not at all," Harry replied, gesturing to the empty seats.

One of the twins grinned and clapped Ron on the back, "Great. Ron, we're going to go find Lee's compartment. Apparently he'd got a giant tarantula, so we'll catch you later. Oh, Harry did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley, and this is our brother Ron. And you are?"

"Neville Longbottom," Neville nervously told the older boys before they walked away.

"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron asked as he sat down beside Harry, opposite Neville.

"He is," Neville said, grabbing hold of his toad, Trevor, as it tried to jump out of his hands.

"Oh. And have you really got … you know?"

"The scar?" Harry asked, well used to people wanting to get a look at it but not really minding in this case. The other boy seemed ok, maybe just a nervous boy on the way to school, like he was. He nodded and pushed his hair back away from his forehead to reveal the jagged lightening bolt scar.

Ron stared, "So that's where You-Know-Who-?"

"Yes," Harry said, "but I don't remember it." It felt strange to hear someone say You-Know-Who. His parents, Sirius and Remus always said Voldemort. Not that they discussed it much really.

"Nothing?" Ron asked.

Harry didn't even mind the complete lack of tact – the boy was likeable. "Lots of green light but nothing else."

"Wow," Ron replied, staring until he realised what he was doing and suddenly looked away, staring straight out of the window instead. Harry and Neville exchanged amused looks – they supposed they should get used to Harry being stared at like a rare specimen.

"So, you're from a wizard family?" Harry asked Ron to break the silence. His older brothers were obviously wizards so he assumed that the rest of the family would be.

"Yes," Ron replied, "well, I think Mum has a second cousin who's an accountant, but we don't really talk about him. How about you two?"

"All wizards," Harry nodded.

"Me too," Neville said with a self-deprecating smile, "I was quite late showing any signs. Gran thought I was a squib for ages, I think."

They chatted for a while about their families. Ron told them about his five brothers – the eldest a curse breaker in Africa, the next a dragon handler in Romania, and the rest at Hogwarts. Harry told Ron about his little sister, and how he lived with his parents, uncle and honorary uncle, and how their house was full of people playing tricks on each other, while Neville spoke about his Gran nervously but kept his parents to himself. He'd decided he didn't want to talk about his parents to anyone.

The three boys chatted comfortably for a while and when the food trolley came around, Harry eagerly bought all of his favourite sweets with the money his parents had given him. Ron and Neville bought some too and they tucked in on the feast, having fun with the every flavoured beans and swapping chocolate frog cards.

"Dumbledore," Harry said, holding one up, "I've got four now, I think."

"I've got six," Ron said, "I was hoping for Agrippa."

Halfway into the journey, Neville lost Trevor. Harry sighed in exasperation – he was always losing the thing and Harry privately thought that if he owned a frog, he'd try to lose it too. Still, he supposed he should offer to try and find it, so the three of them went off up and down the train, trying to find the frog.

All three of them returned to the compartment empty handed and Neville was very upset about it and went out to search again. Harry supposed he should go and take a second look since Neville was his best friend and god-brother.

Before he could follow Neville out of the compartment however, a girl poked her head through the door. She was already dressed in her school robes and had big front teeth and bushy brown hair. Harry vaguely recognised her and thought maybe he'd passed her in the ridiculous search for the toad.

He hadn't spent too much time talking to people in his search for the toad, to be honest. He hadn't wanted to draw attention to himself so he'd sort of … said there was a missing toad without looking at anyone. He hadn't even gone into most compartments, feeling stupid looking for a toad.

"Has Neville found his toad?" she asked them in a bossy sort of voice, "I thought I'd help look."

"We haven't seen it," Ron replied.

The girl looked a bit disappointed and was about to leave when her eyes locked on Harry and she stared. Great. Another starer.

"Are you Harry Potter?" she demanded, not waiting for an answer because Harry's expression gave her the answer, "I know all about you, of course. I've learnt all of our set books by heart so I got a few extra books for background reading. You're in _Modern Magical History _and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts _and _Great Wizarding Events of the 20__th__ Century."_

Harry nodded dumbly, "Er … yes." Harry knew he was in books and his dad teased him for it, saying that Uncle Remus would have loved to be in a book.

"It must be wonderful to be in books," she said quickly, "say, do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around and I do hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds the best by far. I hear Dumbledore himself was in Gryffindor, though I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. Anyway, I should go, I expect we'll be arriving soon. You should probably change into your robes."

When she left, Harry and Ron stared at each other.

"I hope she's not in my house," Ron replied.

"Where do you think you'll be?" asked Harry curiously.

"My brothers were all in Gryffindor," Ron replied, "Mum and Dad were too so I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."

Harry shrugged, "My Mum's whole family were in Slytherin until her and her twin brother went to school and got put in Gryffindor."

"Wow," Ron said, no doubt thinking about all of the bad witches and wizards who had been in Slytherin, including Voldemort, "I bet your grandparents were mad."

Harry suddenly realised it probably wasn't a good idea at this moment in time to tell Ron that his mother and uncle had been disowned and run away from home. Instead, he said, "My mum's other brother was a Slytherin though, and he's alright. Should we go help Neville, do you think? "

Ron had no time to respond because the carriage doors slid open, but it wasn't Neville Longbottom or Hermione Granger, but the blonde pointy-faced boy from Diagon Alley, flanked by two thickset and extremely mean looking boys.

Harry had been intrigued by the cold exchange between his family and the mean blonde people in Diagon Alley but his mother had later explained that the woman was her cousin and had followed the Black family's dark ways, so wasn't fond of Maia and Sirius, who'd turned their backs on it all. His dad warned them that although it was never proven, they'd been on Voldemort's side in the war.

"So it's true," the blonde boy said, though Harry couldn't remember his name, "they're saying up and down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment. This is Crabbe, and this is Goyle. And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Ron gave a slight cough that might have been hiding a snigger and Malfoy glared at him.

"Think my name's funny, do you? There's no need to ask yours. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles and more children than they can afford." Looking at Harry, he added, "You must know that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. Your mother was a Black, and so was mine – one of the great old families. There's no reason that you should hang around with riff-raff like the Weasleys."

"I think you should get out," Harry said much more bravely than he felt as he stood up.

Malfoy scoffed, "Really? What if we don't feel like leaving, eh boys?"

"You should go. _Now," _Harry stressed.

There was a tense moment as Draco Malfoy and Harry stared at each other and after a few minutes, Malfoy looked at him in utter disgust, gave Ron an even filthier look, turned and swept from the compartment, taking his companions with him.

"Delightful," Harry muttered.

Neville returned to the carriage with Trevor shortly after, and soon the train stopped and they arrived at Hogwarts, having only just changed into their robes. An announcement sounded, telling them to leave their luggage on the train and it would be taken up to the school for them.

When the train fully stopped, people started to push their way to the doors and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold air but grinned when he saw a large figure swinging a lamp.

Hagrid, the man he'd met in Diagon Alley, gathered all of the first years together and shouted a loud hello to Harry, which Harry returned with a wave.

As he climbed into a little boat with Ron and Neville, and they were followed by Hermione Granger, he felt more excited than he had in as long as he could remember.

The boats set off and all he wanted to see was Hogwarts castle. He'd seen plenty of pictures of his parents at school but most of them were in the school grounds, with them lounging by the lake.

When the boats turned a corner there was a collective intake of breath from all of the pupils.

Harry grinned up at the building – they were crossing a huge black lake, and in front of them, perched on top of a high mountain, with windows sparkling against the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

Harry had never seen anything like it and he finally understood why his parents and uncles had spent so much time telling him about the wondrous castle, but even their stories didn't match up to the reality.

Hogwarts was beautiful and he just _knew _he was going to enjoy it.

* * *

**Author's Note: So this was my attempt at writing some from Maia's side of the story, and some from Harry's. It will probably be more clear and work better in later chapters when they are in different places. **


	4. First Week

**Note: I always wondered how parents find out what house their children are in. Like, Molly Weasley KNEW Ginny was a Gryffindor by the morning after the sorting ceremony because she congratulated Ginny in the howler sent to Ron. Ginny wouldn't have had time after the feast to owl home, and she'd have to do it really early in the morning to get a reply at breakfast. Does the school automatically alert the parents? Anyway, just a thought.**

* * *

Chapter Four

Harry and the other first years stood nervously stood in front of a tall, dark-haired witch in emerald green robes. She looked very stern and she welcomed them and spoke about the four houses, explaining that they would be in these houses for 7 years, live in their houses, gain and lose points towards the House Cup.

Hagrid called the woman "Professor McGonagall" and Harry thought he recognised the name. She'd been at Hogwarts when his parents and uncles were there and they spoke of her fondly and with amusement. He'd pictured a friendly little witch though.

When the doors to the Great Hall opened and Professor McGonagall started to lead them down the middle of the vast room, Harry couldn't help but stare, and he knew every other first-year was doing the same.

The Great Hall was a huge, splendid room, lit by thousands of candles which were floating in mid air over four long tables laid with golden, glittering plates. At the top of the hall was another long table, where all the teachers were sitting.

Harry scanned the table and found his Uncle Regulus sitting three seats down from the middle, between a thin witch with very thick glasses and frizzy greying hair full of beads, and a man wearing a purple turban. Uncle Regulus was looking right at him and Harry was sure that he threw him a wink, and felt slightly more relaxed.

Professor McGonagall lead them to the front of the hall and at Harry's side, Ron whispered, "How exactly do they sort us into houses? Fred says it hurts a lot, and George says you have to do some magic!"

Harry shook his head. Sirius had told him you had a fight a dragon. His dad had told him not to be ridiculous – it was a mountain troll these days, they'd done away with the dragon. His mum had called them both idiots and didn't they know _anything? _Nowadays it was all down to a perfectly performed charm of Dumbledore's choosing. Eventually Remus had stepped in and assured Harry that he didn't need to know _anything. _All he had to do was sit down.

"I don't think you have to do anything," Harry whispered back, noticing Neville on his other side suddenly looking very green.

They all came to a halt in from of the teachers table, and hundreds of faces from around the room stared at them, silvery ghosts mixed in with the students.

Professor McGonagall placed a wooden stood in front of them and on top of the stool, she put a pointy, very battered wizards hat.

Everyone in the room seemed to be staring at the hat so he stared too, wondering what on earth they were all doing but then the hat twitched and a rip in the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat began to sing.

Harry supposed he shouldn't have found a singing hat too strange – they had magic after all – but he'd certainly never _seen_ a hat sing before. The hat sang about the four school houses and the qualities that each one desired.

Gryffindors were brave, chivalrous and daring apparently. Harry wasn't sure if he was any of those – he'd never had much reason to be brave or daring in his 11 years, he didn't think, unless you counted the times he let Uncle Sirius rope him into a prank and then had to face the wrath of his mum. He didn't think being the Boy-Who-Lived was brave, it wasn't like he'd had a say in that.

Hufflepuff – just, loyal, patient and unafraid of hard work. None of that sounded too bad actually, though his family had made it sound like Hufflepuff wasn't the place to be.

Apparently Ravenclaws were wise and witty. Well, he wasn't wise, so he supposed he wasn't a Ravenclaw. Mum always said Uncle Remus could easily have been a Ravenclaw, he remembered.

Finally, Slytherin – cunning people who used any means to achieve their ends. He already knew he didn't want to be a Slytherin. Slytherin was his mum's family who she'd run away from and who would have made her be a death eater, and Slytherin was _Voldemort_. He wasn't really sure how Uncle Regulus had been a Slytherin. Maybe the hat made mistakes sometimes. Uncle Regulus certainly seemed darker than Uncle Sirius or Mum, he was less cheery, had a dark sense of humour but that was nothing.

When the hat finished singing everyone burst into applause and Harry nodded to himself. He could try on a hat. He could do this.

Professor McGonagall stepped forwards with a long roll of parchment in her hand and she called out the first name.

Hannah Abbot, a very pink faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled forwards and sat on the stool, putting on the hat, which fell right over her eyes. It took only a second for the hat to shout, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table to the right of them cheered loudly and clapped as Hannah went to sit down, and Harry started to think maybe this would be ok. He could do this.

Next was a girl with red hair – Susan Bones – who became a Hufflepuff. Then Terry Boot became a Ravenclaw, followed by Mandy Brocklehurst.

Lavender Brown became the first new Gryffindor and the table on the left exploded with cheers much louder than Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had done before them. Harry scanned the table. Those nearest to Lavender Brown were shaking hands and introducing themselves and Harry saw Ron's three older brothers sitting at the table. He imagined himself sitting there as his family had done before him.

Millicent Bulstrode became the first Slytherin and perhaps it was his imagination, but Harry thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. At the top table, Uncle Regulus clapped politely, smiling at the girl. Uncle Regulus was head of Slytherin house and his mum had warned him that he would probably favour the Slytherins a bit, but not to worry, all the heads of houses would probably do it to some extent.

Hermione Granger almost ran to the stool when it was her turn and quickly became a Gryffindor.

When it was Neville's turn he tripped over on his way to the stool and sat down very red faced. The hat took longer with Neville than it was with anyone else. Harry hoped they'd be in the same house – everything would be so much easier if he had his friend with him, they'd been friends for their whole life and it would be sad to end up in different houses, different dorms, different classes for 7 years. And he worried that Neville would struggle to make friends, so it would be better for both of them if they were together.

Eventually Neville was proclaimed a Gryffindor and was so relieved to be sorted that he went to the table still wearing the hat and had to jog back, ignoring the laughter, to return the hat. Ok, Harry thought, if Neville was a Gryffindor, maybe he could be too. They were friends, they had a lot in common. He could do this.

The sorting hat had barely touched Draco Malfoy when it proclaimed him a Slytherin and he joined the table very smug, along with the two boys he was with on the train.

Moon, Nott and Parkinson were sorted into Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Slytherin again. A pair of twin girls were separated, one for Ravenclaw and one for Gryffindor. Sally-Anne Perks became a Hufflepuff and then -

"Potter, Harry!"

Harry stepped forward nervously and whispers broke out, as he had expected, all around the hall. He could hear people repeating his name to each other, asking if he was _the _Harry Potter, and Professor McGonagall dropped the hat onto his heat, blocking his view of the rest of the room.

To his surprise, the hat started speaking to him in a low voice.

"Hmmm," it said, " the Potter boy. Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes. Oh and a thirst to prove that you are more than that nickname of yours, interesting. But where to put you?"

Harry gripped the edge of the stool and thought, "Not Slytherin, not Slytherin."

"Not Slytherin, eh?" said a small voice in his ear, "are you sure? You could be great, you know. _Plenty_ of great minds were in Slytherin, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that. Plenty of your ancestors were Slytherins."

"And look how they turned out," Harry thought, thinking about how miserable his mum had said she was at home until she and Uncle Sirius had run away to his dad's house. The fact that Uncle Regulus had been a Slytherin wasn't enough to make him think that Slytherin wouldn't be too bad.

"Well, if you're sure," the hat replied, " better be GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry grinned as he took the hat off and walked shakily towards the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been sorted into any house that wasn't Voldemort's, let alone to be sorted into Gryffindor, the house of his parents, house of the brave, and the same house as his best friend, who he now took a seat beside.

He didn't even notice that he was getting the loudest cheer yet and felt quite dazed as Ron's elder brother Percy – who Ron had said was a Prefect, and very proud about it – shook his hand vigorously, while the twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

A ghost with a large riff around his neck and wearing very old fashioned clothes patted his arm and he felt like he'd just been plunged into a bucket of ice-cold water.

Finally starting to relax, he took in the rest of the room. At the top table he met his Uncle's eyes, identical to his mother's, and he received a smile which relaxed him even more. Regulus raised his hand in a wave before returning to conversation with the peculiar wizard on his left who wore a very large turban. In the centre of the table, he recognised Albus Dumbledore, the legendary headmaster.

Ron Weasley was sorted into Gryffindor and took a seat on Harry's other side as Percy congratulated him.

The last person to be sorted was Blaise Zabini – Slytherin – and once he took his head, Professor McGonagall took the stool an the hat away, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet, beaming at everyone and opening his arms wide.

He welcomed them all warmly as if he couldn't be more pleased to see them and told them to enjoy the feast.

The feast was more wonderful than Harry could ever have imagined. The table was piled high with food and he'd never seen so much food on one table. He had no idea where to start. He'd always been allowed as much food as he wanted – well, within reason. Mum had gone mad the time Uncle Sirius had let he and Lyra have too many chocolate frogs before dinner. Still, he'd always eaten well but had never seen so much delicious food. He piled his plate high with all his favourite food and started to dig in.

He spoke to the house ghost – Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, who he'd heard was nicknamed Nearly Headless Nick. The ghost was offended when several of the first years asked him to show them how he could be nearly headless and eventually he floated away to talk to other people.

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the food faded from their plates and desserts arrived, just as wonderful as the savoury food had been.

Harry helped himself to a particularly large slice of treacle tart as the conversation turned to their families.

Ron announced that his parents were a witch and wizard and he'd always grown up around magic, before Seamus Finnigan – a sandy haired boy with a round face – told them about his family.

"I'm half and half," he said, revealing himself to be Irish as he spoke, "Me dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch until after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out."

The table all laughed before someone asked Neville about his family. Harry knew Neville didn't want to talk about his parents, and he didn't blame him. He was constantly being told about his own parents – it seemed his parents were popular even before Harry was cursed and most adults he met seemed to have some connection to them.

Neville told everyone about how he'd been brought up by his grandmother who'd thought he was a muggle for a long time because he showed no signs on magic. He told them about how his great-uncle had pushed him off the end of a pier to force magic out of him and he'd finally produced something, at the age of eight.

The boy sitting beside Seamus – Dean Thomas – told them he'd been raised by his muggle mother, and Dean and Seamus became the focus of the conversation as they all started asking questions about the muggle world. Dean had a million questions in return about the wizarding world and they were still speaking about their different worlds when at last, the puddings disappeared and the hall felt silent as Professor Dumbledore got to his feet.

"Just a few words, now we are all fed and watered," the old man said, "First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."

His eyes seemed to twinkle as he looked directly at the Weasley twins. Harry wondered how many times his trouble causing family had been in that forbidden forest when they weren't supposed to – even his mother had been wild and caused just as much trouble as his father, he knew, which was amusing.

Dumbledore continued, "I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be sued between classes in the corridors. Furthermore, quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should be contact Madam Hooch."

Harry regretted that he couldn't bring his broomstick to school, but supposed it was only fair. The older students had less time left, were probably better, and maybe the school wanted its first years to focus on work. When he was older and could try out for the quidditch team, he'd probably be glad that first years couldn't try out and get in the way.

Dumbledore finished, "Finally I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry frowned – what the hell kind of school was this?

He didn't have much time to dwell on it because Dumbledore suddenly announced that they should sing the school song before bed. The great hall erupted into song, with Dumbledore conducting with his wand and the words appearing high up in the air. No-one sang at the same speed or to the same tune, and the Weasley twins were the last to finish.

Dumbledore sent them all off to bed and the Gryffindors followed Percy, their prefect, through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up a marble staircase.

Harry was sleepy and didn't really pay attention to the paintings that whispered as they passed, the staircases that moved as they stood on them, or even the poltergeist who threw walking sticks at them until Percy threatened to go fetch the terrifying Slytherin house ghost.

Finally they reached the end of a long corridor and in front of them hung a portrait of a very hat lady in a pink silk dress. Percy gave her a password – Caput Draconis – and the portrait swung open to reveal a hole in the wall.

When he climbed through it, Harry found himself in big cosy round room, full of squashy red armchairs. Percy directed them up to their dormitories and Harry and the other boys walked up a flight of stairs to the left and through a heavy wooden door with a number one on the front.

Inside the dormitory, an exhausted Harry pulled his pajamas on and fell into a four poster bed with deep-red velvet curtains. He rolled over, pulling his covers with him and closed his eyes.

He vaguely wondered if his father and uncles had ever slept in this dormitory when they were first years. He wasn't sure if you were supposed to move dormitory each year or if you kept the same one each year and was making a mental note to ask his dad when he fell asleep.

* * *

Maia woke up the next morning quite sad with the knowledge that she wouldn't be seeing Harry at all that day, or indeed any day until the middle of December.

Having dinner without him the previous night had been strange but she'd focused on Lyra instead, asking her all about her day and talking about her studies with Remus.

Curled up in bed with James in the evening, he had pointed out all the fun things Harry would be up to, and they reminisced about their own first day at Hogwarts, and by the time she fell asleep, she was starting to feel alright.

Now she dressed in the lime green robes of St Mungo's, as usual, and fastened her hair up, securing it with several pins and curling the few stray pieces around her wand to style them.

She went down to make a start on breakfast only to find Remus in the kitchen, as always, and Sirius too.

"Morning," she said cheerily.

"Good morning," Sirius said, pulling her in for a one-armed hug as she reached his side and kissing her cheek, "sit down, I'll do breakfast. Tea?"

Maia raised her eyebrows at him, "Are you being nice to me because my son is hundreds of miles away at boarding school?"

Sirius chuckled, "Sit down."

"How're you feeling?" Remus asked, trying to imagine how she must be feeling because he knew he was going to miss Harry, so he was sure Maia would miss him a million times more.

"Strange," Maia replied honestly, about to take a seat at the kitchen table when she heard a tapping noise and looked for the source to see a barn owl at the window.

She crossed the kitchen to open the window and let the owl in, and it hopped inside, dutifully sticking its leg out for her. Maia frowned slightly, full of curiosity as she untied a small scroll from the owl's leg. As she was doing so, a familiar pair of arms slid around her waist from behind and warm lips were pressed against her cheek.

"What have you got, love?" James asked as he peered over her shoulder.

Maia noted the handwriting on the front – it belonged to her younger brother, which meant this was an owl from Hogwarts. Hopefully it was just an update or something.

"Regulus," she said as James let go of her and she turned around to face the rest of the room. The three men were all looking at her, waiting for her to read the letter.

Maia opened the envelope and unfolded the parchment, thinking to herself that her brother must have sent the owl yesterday evening – the poor owl had flown very far.

"Well?" Sirius demanded.

Maia scanned the letter. It was brief, and Maia wasn't surprised – she'd only seen her brother a couple of days ago, so there was little to say. The letter started by telling her that it was strange to see Harry finally arriving at Hogwarts and he was just writing because he thought she'd want to know that her boy got to Hogwarts safely. The next phrase jumped out at her and she grinned and looked up at the three men in the kitchen.

She read aloud, "I'm sure you will all by very pleased to learn that Harry just became a Gryffindor." Looking up, she beamed, "He's a Gryffindor!"

A collective combination of cheering, laughter and chatter broke out amongst the four of them.

"Our boy!" James shouted, "he's a Gryffindor! Maia, he did it, he's a big brave lion!"

Without any warning James pulled her in for a tight hug, arms locking around her waist. She hugged him back and they laughed together, before James suddenly lifted her off her feet and spun her around.

"He's a Gryffindor! A Gryffindor! _Our_ boy!"

As soon as he put Maia back on her feet, Sirius was throwing himself at James for a hug an the pair of them did a strange victory dance around the kitchen, chanting "Gryffindor! Gryffindor! Gryffindor!"

Maia couldn't feel more proud of her boy. She'd have been proud of him whatever house he was in, of course, but hearing that he took after she and James made her incredibly proud. The Gryffindor traits were ones which any parent would be proud to have in their son – brave and chivalrous, courageous. Not to mention daring, nerve, strong-willed – all things which she recognised in she and her husband, but also knew could be a Gryffindor's downfall, and they would be the things to watch out for as he grew up.

"He's your boy through and through," Remus smiled as Maia threw her arms around him in celebration.

James and Sirius continued to chant and dance around the kitchen, and Sirius dragged Maia in for a hug whilst babbling about Harry doing them all proud, taking over their legacy, pranking all the Slytherins, becoming a big great wizard. Maia knew Harry wouldn't be pranking many people – he didn't like to draw attention to himself like the Marauders had done.

"What's all the noise?" came a sleepy little voice.

Maia turned and saw her daughter standing in the doorway, hair all tangled and messy, and dressed in fluffy blue pajamas patterned with stars. It took Sirius about two seconds to snatch Lyra up in a hug, and she looked bewildered.

"We got a letter from Uncle Regulus," Maia explained, "he says-"

"Harry's a Gryffindor!" Sirius interrupted.

Lyra knew that being a Gryffindor was how her parents and Uncle Sirius defined themselves, and she'd grown up on bedtime stories of lions and towers and a big cosy red room. She didn't really understand how they houses were so important to who you were, but her mum insisted that your house became your family. Her mum had said she'd be happy with her children being in any house but Lyra had a feeling that deep down, she was would be happiest if they were Gryffindors.

"That's great," she replied as Uncle Sirius squeezed her, "but I sort of … can't breathe."

He let go of her at once, apologising, and watched as Dad and Sirius continued with their victory dance until her mum playfully slapped her dad on the back of the head and told him to get out of the way so she could make breakfast.

James pouted at Maia, "I'm just excited!"

"I _know, _me too, but get out from underneath my feet or make your own breakfast."

Lyra privately thought that her dad was showing some of that Gryffindor daring and nerve by risking her mum's wrath, but James Potter didn't look too bothered.

He simply leaned down to press a kiss to her cheek then did as he was told, getting out of her way and dodging the playful swat his wife aimed at his arm.

* * *

Harry's few days at Hogwarts were so busy and so exciting that it was Thursday morning before he realised that he hadn't written home yet and his mum would probably be dying to hear from him. And she'd be mad if he went away to school and didn't write to her. And his dad and uncles would want to hear about everything he'd been up to too.

After his first lesson of the day he wrote a long letter detailing his week so far and sent it off with Hedwig.

* * *

Meanwhile at Potter Manor, Maia was not impressed.

It was difficult adjusting to Harry not being in the house. She kept laying places for him at dinner and kept expecting him to come into the room and say hi when she came home from work.

She knew he'd be having fun at Hogwarts and his week would be busy and exciting, so she hadn't expected him to write to her the very minute he got there, but she'd thought to hear from him by Tuesday evening, or maybe Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday was been disappointed that he hadn't written but told herself that he was busy with new classes and making friends, and he'd write the next day.

Sirius had been the first to notice that she was far more disappointed than she was letting on but told her she'd raised a good boy and he'd write tomorrow.

On Wednesday morning at breakfast James made a passing comment about Harry - "I wonder how he's getting on? Probably gotten lost a million times and had his first run in with Peeves by now."

Maia glared at him, "Well, we wouldn't know, would we? Since he hasn't bothered to write to his own mother."

When she came home from work on Wednesday and there was still no word from him, she was even more unimpressed.

This time, Remus dealt with it, quickly offering her a mug of tea and distracting her by telling her all about what he'd been teaching Lyra. Lyra, who was tormenting the cat, piped up, telling her all about how much she hated doing her sums and Maia was suitably distracted.

By Thursday, Maia was seriously annoyed.

"Any word from Harry yet?" she asked as soon as she appeared in the kitchen's fireplace after work, startling both the cat, and Remus who was putting something in the oven.

Remus was hesitant to answer but the look on his face said it all.

"I am going to kill the boy," Maia frowned.

"You know, you could write to him first," Remus suggested, privately thinking that if they didn't hear from the boy soon _he _would write to him and tell him to write home.

Maia brushed off his suggestion, "That's not the point," she said, "is my husband here?"

"Somewhere," replied Remus, watching as she stormed out of the kitchen with a determined look on her face and knowing that poor James was about to get an earful. Maia and James rarely argued but if there was ever a time to argue, it was going to be as their children became teenagers and were off at school.

In the hallway, Maia found her daughter tossing a big red quaffle up in the air. She'd taken to taking it out of the family's set of quidditch balls and playing with it, much like her father had always stolen the school's snitch to play with.

Her expression softened as she saw her daughter and she smiled, "Hey sweetheart, how are you?"

"Good," Lyra beamed, "Uncle Moony _finally _let me move on from my sums this morning!"

"That's great," Maia smiled, drawing the girl in for a hug that she hadn't quite expected, but returned all the same. "Now, do you know where your dad is?"

Lyra could tell by the expression on her mother's face that if she gave up her dad's location, he was probably going to be drawn into a disagreement, but she'd find him anyway, so she sighed,

"I think he's in the office."

"Lovely, thank you sweetheart," Maia said, affectionately patting her shoulder before starting up the stairs, voice taking on an entirely new tone and volume to make sure James could hear her from his office.

"JAMES POTTER, YOUR SON IS IGNORING HIS MOTHER AND HE'S AN UNGRATEFUL LITTLE GIT!"

She reached the office quickly and found her husband halfway to the door, clearly having got up to come and find her when he heard her voice. When she appeared in the doorway, he sighed.

He stepped forwards and tried to reach for her and draw her in for a soothing hug but she backed away from him and he tried to pacify her with words instead.

"Love, I'm sure-"

"DON'T you tell me that he's just forgotten, James Potter," Maia replied sharply, "because what sort of consolation is that? And don't tell me that he's busy because it would take him all of TEN minutes! I don't understand why you're not more bothered! "

"He's eleven years old Maia! He's just gone to a new, exciting place and probably thinks we're fine. He's not old enough to realise exactly how much we worry," James tried to reason.

"OUR SON - who I have raised and looked after for eleven bloody years – thinks it's ok to go to all the way to Scotland and not even send his own parents a note to let them know he's fine! After all he's been through in his life, he KNOWS I have separation issues! Who wouldn't, when their baby boy was attacked by Voldemort?!"

James sighed, "Stop it!" he told her firmly, "I want to hear from him too but give him a break! He's eleven years old, having the time of his life, I'm sure he'll write soon."

"When's soon?!" Maia asked, no longer shouting but still severely unimpressed, "I'm telling you, I'm going to send word to my brother and tell him to be an extra mean professor until Harry bothers to interact with his family!"

"Calm it," James told her, holding up his hands, "you miss our son, I know. I miss him too, but having this argument with me is NOT going to make you stop missing him!"

The truth of his words hit her and she nodded, taking a breath. Then all of a sudden tears were in her eyes and she tried to blink them away. She hated crying but when it came to matters concerning her babies, she couldn't help herself.

"I really miss him Jamie," she sighed, wrapping her arms around herself and dropping her eyes to the floor.

James nodded, feeling that he might have managed to calm her down and wondering when was the appropriate time to tell her about the soot on her cheek – maybe now, if she was finished shouting at him.

"THERE'S AN OWL!"

They stared at each other upon hearing Sirius' voice from downstairs and Maia turned and ran down the stairs. James grinned after her and disappeared with a crack, reappearing again at the bottom of the stairs and grinning over his shoulder at Maia as she ran down them and reached his side.

Sirius was waving an unopened envelope and his announcement had been so loud that the whole household came to see. Together they congregated in the hallway and Sirius held the envelope out to his sister.

Maia took it eagerly and scanned it. It was a lengthy letter – maybe her boy she was dying to hear from him so had sent an extra long one to make up for it.

"Read out, Mum!" Lyra urged, "I want to hear about Hogwarts!"

Maia grinned and sat down on one of the steps as she started to read and everyone gathered around her.

"_Dear Mum, Dad, Lyra, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Moony, Hogwarts is great. The castle is so huge and we've got lost so many times because of the moving staircases but today we made it to breakfast without getting lost once! -"_

"Quite the achievement," James chuckled, sitting down beside her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"_Neville'_s_ not coping with the castle - he loses Trevor at least 5 times a day -"_

"Well honestly, why would anyone give a child a pet toad anyway? He needs to lose it," Sirius added.

Maia smiled to herself, wondering if someone was going to interrupt after every sentence and continued, "_Nearly Headless Nick is pretty helpful for directions but Peeves the poltergeist is the worst!"_

"Personally I always found Peeves rather helpful," Remus said with a wry smile, thinking of all the times the poltergeist had had a hand in their tricks.

"_Neville and I have been sorted into Gryffindor, which is great."_

A collective cheer went around them all.

"_There are three other boys sharing our room – Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas and Ron Weasley. Ron has quickly become our friend. Ron has three older brothers at school – twins in 3rd year, who I think are always playing tricks on people, and a prefect in 5th year. He has even older brothers too – a curse breaker in Egypt and a dragon handler in Romania, how cool is that?"_

"So cool," Lyra said wistfully, "a _dragon _handler!"

"Molly and Arthur Weasleys boys," Remus noted, "nice couple."

"_Draco Malfoy, who we saw in Diagon Alley, is a Slytherin and tried to befriend me on the train but I told him no thanks."_

"Atta-boy," Sirius grinned, to which Maia quickly nodded.

"_He has two big ugly friends who go everywhere with him like bodyguards," _Maia broke off and looked at her own friends, a smirk playing on her lips as she told Lyra ,"funny that. I had three of those when we were at school." Wormtail was omitted from her comment – they'd didn't want to have to explain that their very close friend was in Azkaban for betraying them.

"Hey!" Sirius protested as Lyra laughed.

"Big and ugly, eh?" James asked, poking her in the ribs, "that's not what you said when you married me, is it?"

Maia smirked and continued, "_Ron, Neville and I have already angered Filch the caretaker but honestly, how were we supposed to know on our first morning that the door we were trying to force our way through was the entrance to the strictly out of bounds third floor corridor?!"_

"Why is there an out of bounds corridor, Mum?" Lyra asked.

Maia shook her head, "That's a good question. It didn't exist when we were there."She made a mental note to tell Harry to stay away from the corridor – if there was one place he was likely to explore with his invisibility cloak, it was an out-of-bounds corridor. Merlin knew they'd have the done the same thing when they were kids.

"Strange," Remus said suspiciously. Dumbledore would definitely have a reason though.

"_People stare at me a lot and whisper but it's not too bad. Lessons are good too. Astronomy sounded really cool at first but having to do work at midnight is actually quite annoying. Herbology happens three times a week in the greenhouses and Professor Sprout seems ok. History of Magic is the most boring thing I've ever done-"_

They all laughed, except Lyra and she took that to mean they all agreed.

"_\- Professor Flitwick, the Charms professor, is even tinier than I expected him to be from your stories. He fell off his pile of books in excitement when he saw me-"_

More laughter.

"-_Professor McGonagall is scary. I don't know how Dad got away with calling her Minnie, and I can't imagine her dancing with Uncle Sirius at your wedding, even though I've seen the pictures."_

Sirius grinned. He'd won several galleons from Gideon Prewett at the wedding because they'd had a bet about getting McGonagall to dance with him.

"_Professor Quirrell teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts. He's very strange – he wears a huge purple turban that the Weasley twins swear he stuffs with garlic to protect himself from vampires. He's also very nervous and always stammers. We haven't had Potions with Uncle Regulus yet, but hopefully that should be ok, and we aren't having flying lessons until next week-"_

"Like he needs them," snorted Sirius.

"_Hagrid has invited me to have tea with him tomorrow afternoon-"_

"Hope he doesn't try the cauldron cakes," scoffed James as they fondly thought of their half-giant friend.

"_So basically, everything is fine and I'm fine. Hope you are all ok, love Harry. P.s Neville says hi."_

Maia felt relieved when she got to the end of the letter and everyone around her started chatting about him and discussing the points he'd mentioned. She breathed a sigh of relief and got to her feet, forcing James' loose arm around her shoulders to drop back to his side, as she walked away from them all and into the living room.

Once alone, she let out a long, slightly shaky breath and ran a hand through her hair.

"Are you alright, love?" James asked from behind her as she heard the living room door close.

She turned around to face her husband and smiled at him a little gratefully for shutting them door and giving them some felt more emotional than she thought she ought to and couldn't explain it.

"Oh Jamie," she sighed, offering him a weak smile, "I … I-"

"Hey, hey," James interrupted gently as he stepped forward until he was right in front of her, "we've got our letter, we know he's fine. In fact, he's great. He's off learning how to be a great wizard."

"I'm sorry for being such a bitch to you before," Maia said, biting her bottom look as she looked up at him.

James shook his head, "Forget about it," he said, reaching out for her and pulling into his arms.

He wrapped his arms around her and she smiled slightly, leaning in and resting her head against his chest, one hand clutching at the material of his shirt. He rubbed her back in soothing circles as his other hand played with her hair.

"I'm sorry," she repeated, voice rather muffled by the material of his clothes, "I shouldn't have started shouting at you when I wasn't mad at _you_. It's just …"

"Easy?" James finished for her, lips twitching into a smirk.

"Yes. No! I'm sorry. I know I have an appalling temper. "

"Darling wife, it's _fine," _James told her, pulling back a bit, one arm still around her waist and using her other hand to put his thumb and forefinger under her chin and tilt her face up so he could look her in the eye. "I know you have separation issues and to be honest, if he hadn't written to us by tomorrow evening, I was going to write to him myself and remind him he has a family. It was always going to be difficult. He's never been away from us for more than a night and not only do we have the _completely normal _worry that something could happen to our children, we have the extra concern that something might happen to Harry because of all this Boy-Who-Lived rubbish. It's ok to be worried, but at some point we have … ease up a little bit."

"I know he can't write every two minutes," Maia said, "but I really _needed_ a first letter so I knew he was settling in ok."

"I know," James told her, the hand that was tilting her face moving to cup her cheek, "now, are you feeling better?"

"Yes."

He leaned in and pressed a firm kiss to her forehead, "Good. Now, shall we go write a reply for Harry? Then maybe we could have a fly around the garden with Lyra before dinner, or she might start thinking her brother is getting all the attention."

"You're a good man James Potter," Maia told him, pushing up onto her tip toes so she could press a kiss to his lips.


	5. September

Chapter Five

At breakfast on Friday, Harry received a long response to his letter home. It was written in his mum's small curvy handwriting but there were frequent phrases like "Your dad says", "Uncle Sirius thinks", "Uncle Remus says" and "Lyra wants to know" so he could imagine the four of them hovering over her whilst she was writing, chipping in here and there until she told them all to be quiet because damn it she was trying to write.

He read bits of it aloud to Neville and Ron, who were greatly amused by the adults unflattering comments about Filch, Professor Binns and Draco Malfoy. Ron couldn't help but think that Harry's parents sounded pretty cool.

When they turned their attention back to their breakfast, Neville asked, "What have we got today?"

"Double Potions with the Slytherins," Ron replied, "Black's Head of Slytherin house. They say he favours them – guess we can see if it's true."

Neville shrugged, "Nah, Professor Black will be ok, won't he Harry?"

Harry hadn't actually got around to telling Ron that Regulus Black was his uncle. He wasn't hiding the fact but Potions and its professor hadn't come up in conversation, and nor had any stories relating to Regulus. He hadn't been hiding it – plenty of people knew his mum's maiden name was Black, but of course, people his own age wouldn't really.

Ron appeared confused, "Well, how do you know?"

Harry looked a little sheepish as he replied, "He's my uncle."

Ron stared, "_Really?"_

"Yeah, he's my mum's brother. He's alright. I don't think he'll make it obvious that he's my family and I don't think he'll particularly favour me - that wouldn't be his style. But he won't be mean to us."

"Oh," Ron said, sounding a little relieved, "Fred and George said he favours the Slytherins but maybe it's not much then."

"I think he'll be like McGonagall," Harry said, trying to think of something reassuring, "you know – stern but pretty fair."

Up until now Harry hadn't actually considered what it would be like to be taught by his uncle. People would find out, of course. He imagined that news and gossip travelled around this place very quickly. He hoped that people wouldn't think he had an unfair advantage or anything. People were already staring and whispering all the time. He didn't want the Slytherins – who loved nothing more than to whisper about him – to have another reason to hate him.

Potions lessons took place in the dungeons, and it was strange to think of his uncle living down here in the dungeons, but Regulus wasn't his mum or Sirius. He had a hard edge to him. He wasn't a friendly older brother type uncle, although Harry got along with him well enough. Lyra seemed to get on better with him, he'd always thought. Regulus appreciated Lyra's cheek and the extra mischievous which didn't quite run in Harry.

Regulus swept into the dungeon dressed all in black. Harry wasn't sure he'd ever seen him in anything other than black, or occasionally dark green.

He gave Harry a small smile before he took the register and put them into pairs and set them to make a simple potion to cure boils. He worked with Neville and Ron ended up with Dean, who shared their dormitory, though they weren't the best of friends yet.

Uncle Regulus, or _Professor Black _– Harry had no idea how to refer to him in his own head now – swept around the room checking up on them and it soon transpired that he was a fairly strict professor.

He criticised almost everyone's potions but Harry noticed he criticised the Slytherins just as much as the Gryffindors, so that was something at least. Harry's cauldron was the first that he didn't criticise, instead nodding at it as he walked past, though Harry could tell from his frown that it wasn't a good potion – having Neville as a potions partner was a bit of a hindrance actually.

Harry watched him walk past Malfoy's cauldron. Malfoy gave him a smug smirk, as if expecting some sort of recognition.

Harry supposed he'd expected some sort of special treatment, as Regulus was his mother's cousin. A silly expectation in Harry's opinion – his mum and Sirius didn't associate themselves with Malfoy's parents, but spoke to Regulus, so surely Regulus didn't speak to the Malfoys. Harry got the feeling that Malfoy would try to play on any connection he had that might be useful to him.

It suddenly occurred to him that Draco Malfoy was his second cousin – something he hadn't thought of before, despite knowing that Narcissa Malfoy was his mum's cousin. It was a shame to be related to someone who awful. Still, maybe they could just ignore each other for their entire school careers.

As it happened, Regulus didn't show Malfoy any special treatment, simply nodding at the cauldron and telling him he may have overstewed his horned slugs.

In Harry's distraction there was a loud hissing noise coming from his own cauldron. He turned to see that Neville had somehow managed to melt the cauldron into a twisted blob and the potion was starting to seep across the floor, burning holes into people's shoes.

He quickly jumped onto a stool, wincing as he felt the potion burning through his socks. Within seconds everyone was on their stools, except Neville who had been covered in the potion and collapsed to his knees in pain as angry red boils sprang up over his arms and legs.

Regulus rolled his eyes, "Oh dear," he said flatly, though Harry knew that was just his way, "I suppose you added your porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?" He leaned down and hook a hand under Neville's arm, pulling him to his feet, "Harry, you'd best take him up to the hospital wing.

Harry nodded wordlessly and as he and Neville left the dungeons, he thought that this was not at all how he'd pictured his first potions lesson, and he imagined that once Neville was fine, Uncle Regulus would be recounting this story at his family's sunday dinner with laughter.

* * *

"He did what?!" Sirius asked, a grin taking over his face.

Regulus smirked, "I'm telling you, he melted the cauldron into nothing! James, could you pass the apple sauce please?"

James laughed as he passed it over and shook his head, "Melted a cauldron, of all things."

"Poor Neville," Maia sighed, though she was grinning broadly, "he'll have been so embarrassed. At least he was fine afterwards, I suppose."

Regulus nodded, "Harry's face was a picture too."

Sirius was still howling with laughter and slapped Remus on the arm, "Melted a cauldron and burned everyone's shoes!"

Remus snorted and shot Regulus a grin, "The poor boy will be terrified of Potions for the next seven years."

Regulus shrugged, "I won't hold it against him but it seems Mr Longbottom is _not _a natural. I'll be suggesting to Harry that he might like to choose another potions partner, lest his own career in potions be equally appalling."

"Melted a cauldron in his first lesson though," James snorted, almost choking on his yorkshire pudding, "Not even Bertram Aubrey ever did anything like that, and he was a prize idiot!"

"Oh for Merlin's sake_," _Maia said, though she was too thoroughly amused by her godson's situation to be annoyed at her husband, "you lot just didn't like him because I dated him for a while. He wasn't really an idiot."

There was a pause during which the men exchanged glances and then Sirius burst into a fresh wave of laughter, James snorted and finally Remus told her, "Oh he _was."_

Maia rolled her eyes and told her daughter, "Don't you listen to them. They never liked _anyone _I dated."

"That's because you only dated idiots," Sirius almost growled, surprising Lyra with the readiness that he slipped into big protective brother.

"I couldn't even talk to boys sometimes if these lot were around," Maia continued to Lyra, "but don't worry sweetheart, you've got all that to come, and it'll be even worse for you. _I _had a brother and two protective friends-"

"Two brothers, Mum," Lyra pointed out.

Maia nodded quickly, "Well yes, but Regulus was younger and in a different house, so we ran in different circles. Anyway, you'll have a big brother, a godbrother, your dad and three uncles. Good luck."

Lyra grimaced, stabbing a sprout with her fork, "I don't like boys anyway Mum. They're annoying."

"That's the spirit," James said quickly.

"Yep! Good – erm – good girl! That's … that's very good. Boys are stupid, you definitely don't want to go anywhere near them. Good girl!" Sirius agreed firmly, stabbing a stuffing ball with far more ferocity then was needed.

* * *

Harry's next week at Hogwarts turned out to be equally as eventful as his first.

Tea with Hagrid on Friday evening had been a nice affair. He, Ron and Neville and gone down to Hagrid's hut, on the edge of the forest, and been treated to tea and some very questionable rock cakes.

They'd been slobbered on by his dog – Fang – and told Hagrid all about their week. Everything had been fun and light until Harry spotted the headline of the day's copy of the Daily Prophet. It was detailing a break-in at Gringotts bank which had left the goblins baffled. Harry noted that the break -in was the day he had been to get his school supplies. Hagrid had been there that day. Then he noticed that the vault in question was the vault Hagrid had been visiting. Hagrid had quickly changed the subject.

Harry sent a short letter home on Monday but didn't mention the break-in. It seemed pretty suspicious but he knew they'd tell him that it was nothing, and that he shouldn't be snooping anyway.

Harry's second week at Hogwarts was actually fairly uneventful until Thursday, and then on Thursday, the flying lessons started.

Harry had been looking forward to this more than anything else and not even the fact that the Slytherins were being taught with them could dampen his spirits. Malfoy had spent all week telling long, boastful stories which always ended in him narrowly escaping muggles in their flying things. Seamus made it sound like he'd spent his childhood zooming around the countryside on his broomstick and Ron was telling anyone who'd listen about the time he'd almost hit a hang-glider on a Charlie's old broom.

Everyone from wizarding families -Harry included – had strong opinions about quidditch and it was a constant topic of conversation.

The morning of the flying lessons, Neville received a package from his grandmother. He opened it with excitement and showed them all a glass ball filled with white smoke – a remembrall.

Harry privately thought that although it was nice in theory – Neville was always loosing something – a rememberall didn't tell you what you'd forgotten, so it wasn't always that helpful.

Malfoy, who had decided to make an enemy out of Harry already, had snatched the remembrall from Neville as he was passing but Professor McGonagall was there very quickly and Malfoy immediately gave it back.

Flying lessons were taught by Madam Hooch, a woman with short grey hair, and yellow eyes like a hawk. The Gryffindors all lined up opposite the Slytherins and in front of them lay lots of battered looking broomsticks.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Madam Hooch demanded as soon as everyone was there, "stand by a broomstick, come on, hurry up. Stick your right hand over our broom and say "Up!""

Harry's broomstick was very old and lots of the twigs stuck out at odd angles, but it jumped into his hand at one. Neville was the last person in the whole class to end up with a broom in his hand, but they were all delighted when asked to mount the brooms and Malfoy was told he'd been doing it wrong for years.

They were ordered to kick off from the ground, rise a few feet and come straight back down but before Madam Hooch had the time to blow her whistle and set them off, Neville pushed off hard, afraid of being left behind.

They all stared at he tried to come back but had no control at all. Harry wasn't surprised – he'd never been on a broom in his life. His gran wouldn't let him and Maia and James had never managed to coax him onto one either

Neville rose twenty feet in the air … more … then he looked down at the ground, gasped, slipped sideways off his broom and … oh dear, Harry thought … he was going to … yep. Neville landed face down on the grass in a head.

Harry almost swore and watched with terror as a very pale Madam Hooch checked him over then announced that he must go to the hospital wing, but they were all to stay on the ground or be expelled.

She'd only been gone a second when Malfoy started to laugh about it and Harry did not appreciate it. He knew Neville was clumsy, a liability, whatever you wanted to call him, but Neville was his friend.

When Malfoy spotted that Neville had dropped his new remembrall, he immediately picked it up.

"Give it here, Malfoy," Harry said firmly, stepping towards Malfoy and noticing that everyone in the class stopped talking to watch them.

Malfoy smirked, "I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect – how about – up a tree?"

"Give it _here!" _Harry yelled.

Malfoy simply leapt onto his broom and took off. Harry raised his eyebrows – Malfoy hasn't been lying, he _could _fly well, hovering level with the highest trees as he goaded Harry to come and get it if he wanted it. Harry decided to take him up on the challenge – he was a fairly decent flier himself, he thought. He couldn't consistently out-fly his parents but they'd been exceptional quidditch players in their day and still flew a lot for fun, so maybe they weren't the best measure of what was an average flier. He could at least match his mum these days, and that was impressive. And he had to help Neville – the boy was practically a brother.

"No!" Hermione Granger shouted as he mounted his broom, "Madam Hooch told us not to move – you'll get us all into trouble!"

Harry ignored her, kicked off hard from the ground and soared up into the air. He flew up to a very smug looking Malfoy very quickly, hearing screams and gasps from the girls on the ground at his sudden action, fast speed and vast height. There was an even admiring whoop from Ron.

When Malfoy refused to hand the remembrall over after another demand, Harry flew at him like a javelin and Malfoy only just managed to dodge out of the way.

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy!" Harry smirked.

When the same thought seemed to occur to Malfoy, he paled and shouted, "Catch it if you can then!"

He threw the glass ball high in the air and darted back towards the ground. Harry knew what to do, leant forward on his broom and raced towards the glass ball, wind piercing his ears, along with the screams from the people on the ground as he plummeted down. He could do this he thought. He'd seen his family do it a million times – nobody threw a quaffle and aimed for the rings like his parents, but nobody fought for the snitch like Uncle Sirius and Uncle Regulus. When they played family matches, he was always a chaser or a keeper, never the seeker, but now he couldn't understand why he'd never tried.

He stretched out his hand and caught the remembrall when he was just a foot away from the ground and sharply pulled his broom straight, toppling gently onto the grass with the glass ball triumphantly in his hand. He'd never seen such a spectacular catch if he did say so himself.

His joy was short-lived however at the scream of, "HARRY POTTER!"

His heart sank at the sight of Professor McGonagall running towards them and he was almost trembling with fear. His classmates tried to defend him and blame it on Malfoy but the professor wasn't listening.

"You could have broken your neck, you silly boy!" she yelled at him, "imagine if I had to write to your poor mother and tell her that you'd gotten yourself killed by messing about on a broomstick! Follow me, now."

Harry personally thought that given he hadn't died and he'd been doing it to help Neville, his mother wouldn't be too mad. Maybe she'd even appreciate a bit of good flying. He knew his dad and uncles would – Mum was stricter than them all but even then she thought lots of things were cool that other mums wouldn't.

Still, he worried as Professor McGonagall lead him through the castle and stopped outside a classroom. He worried even more when McGonagall asked Flitwick if she could borrow "Wood." What the hell was Wood? They didn't use the cane here, did they?

Harry was surprised when Wood turned out to be a burly fifth year Gryffindor boy. He was even more surprised when McGonagall introduced them and then told Wood,

"Wood – I've found you a seeker."

Harry stared and he was sure that his jaw was hanging open. Seeker? _Seeker? _For Gryffindor's quidditch team? In first year? This couldn't be happen. First years couldn't … was this is joke? Was she stringing him along as part of his punishment for not doing what Madam Hooch wanted? Seeker?

"The boy's a natural," Professor McGonagall told a very delighted Wood, "I've never seen anything like it. He caught this remembrall after a fifty foot dive, didn't even scratch himself. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it. Potter, Wood is the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team and we need a seeker. Do you have a broom at home? I'm sure James and Maia Potter's son would own a broomstick!"

Harry nodded, "We have six quidditch posts in our garden," he said.

The professor nodded as if she'd expected as much and she rolled her eyes, "Of course. Of _course _James Potter would have a full quidditch pitch in his back garden. I will write to your parents – at least then Madam Hooch can say I've disciplined you in some way – and I'll make sure to ask them to send your broomstick. Professor Dumbledore will bend the first-year rule a little, I daresay."

Harry couldn't believe that all of this was happening – he was going to be a Gryffindor seeker and he'd been at school less than 2 weeks? He never could have seen this coming but felt immense pride well up in him at the thought of such an accomplishment.

Wood, the captain, was circling him, sizing him up, and seemed very pleased, "Just the build for a seeker. Light – speedy."

McGonagall nodded, "Heaven knows we need a good seeker. We were flattened in our last match by Slytherin. I couldn't look Regulus Black in the face for weeks. Make sure you train hard." Then, most surprisingly of all, she smiled, "Your parents will be very proud, I'm sure. Excellent quidditch players – even if they _did _spent half of their practises arguing over who was the better chaser."

* * *

Maia sighed heavily when she received a letter from Hogwarts that evening. She _knew _it wasn't from her son because it was addressed in the school's official emerald green ink, with the red wax seal on the back. It wasn't from her brother either – although he had access to the school seal as a Head of House, he'd never use it to send his sister a letter.

Which meant this was from McGonagall or Dumbledore. Which meant Harry was either hurt or in trouble. No, not hurt, she thought. If he was hurt and it was urgent, the school wouldn't have sent a letter, they'd have got in touch more directly.

Which meant he was in trouble. Already. She shouldn't be surprised, she thought, turning the envelope over in her hands and wondering what he'd done. Caught out after curfew? Wouldn't be surprising. Gone for a wander in the Forbidden Forest? Dangerous, but wouldn't be too surprising. Fighting? Now that wasn't like Harry but if he'd been provoked maybe. He was a very loyal boy so maybe if some – Malfoy – had said something about his family or friends …. she hoped it wasn't fighting. Talking back to a teacher? Again, not unless he was provoked and the teachers weren't likely to be mean to him. Pulled a ridiculous prank? Maybe, but surely not so early into the term. It was more Lyra than Harry to be honest.

Then, what? Well, there was nothing for it. She was going to have to open the letter and find out what her son's first wrong-doing of many – probably – was.

"We have a letter from Hogwarts," she said, walking into the living room where James was reading the day's Daily Prophet, but the room was otherwise empty. Remus was in bed, recovering from a full moon, Sirius was out on a date with some witch from Magical Maintenance and Lyra was in the bath.

"Oh?" James asked, pushing his glasses up his nose as his wife threw herself down on the sofa beside him.

"Not from Harry or Regulus. I think it's McGonagall or Dumbledore."

"You'd best open it then," James told her with a slight smile, wondering if this meant that their son was in trouble and hoping he hadn't done anything _too_ stupid.

Maia nodded and quickly opened the envelope, tossing it aside and unfolding the letter within. She held it between them and they both read to themselves. It _was _from Professor McGonagall and it even sounded fond. The professor had always had a soft spot for the Marauders and the war and the order had solidified it.

_Dear James and Maia,_

_Today your son was caught flying around the grounds at the most dangerous speed, after the whole class were clearly told by their flying instructor to stay on the ground whilst she took Neville Longbottom to the hospital win. (After a small accident, your godson is fine. A broken wrist fixed by Poppy Pomfrey immediately.)_

_Harry was in the air following a disagreement with one Draco Malfoy, and was trying to rescue Mr Longbottom's remembrall, I believe. I witnessed him dive fifty feet to the ground and catch the remembrall in one hand._

_As a result, he has been appointed as the new seeker of the Gryffindor's house quidditch team. Could you please send his broomstick to Hogwarts? He must begin training as soon as possible if we are to stand a chance of winning our first match in November._

_Hoping you are all well,_

_Minerva McGonagall._

_P.s. I would be very grateful if you would keep this news from Regulus Black, for the time being. We would like the element of surprise on our side._

When she got to the end, Maia had to read the letter again to make sure she wasn't making things up. After the first paragraph, she was _sure_ the rest of the letter would just be a notice about Harry receiving a detention but being made seeker for the house team?

"No," James breathed at her side, lifting his eyes from the letter and looking at her, "_no."_

Maia's eyes were wide as she tried to understand what she'd just read, "I … he's the house seeker?"

James threw the Daily Prophet to the floor and slowly got to his feet, "He's the house seeker!"

Maia grinned and got to her feet too, pride sneaking up on her until she repeated, "He's the seeker! Our son is Gryffindor's new seeker!"

James roared with laughter and reached down to wrap his arms around her, picking her up and spinning her around in a huge celebratory hug, making her laugh too. Suddenly, all the anxiety she felt about her son going away to school might be worth it, she thought, if she got to celebrate his achievements like this all the time.

"He's so young!" Maia gushed as she was put back on her feet, "eleven years old and the house seeker!"

"Well he's a natural," James replied, full of pride and grinning more broadly than he'd ever thought possible, "I've always said he was a great little flier. Obviously takes after his dad." At her glare, he added, "yes, alright, and _you_ too. Merlin's beard, I'm so proud of him! What a way to start his time at school!"

"He'll be amazing," Maia agreed, "but I can't believe he got on the house team because he got caught in some kind of in-the-air broomstick fight with Draco Malfoy."

"Ah, yes, that," James frowned, having quite forgotten the beginning of the letter in his excitement, "not ideal really."

Maia lips twitched into a smile but she couldn't really be mad about it, "No, not ideal. I'd really rather that he do as his teachers tell him to, but if he really was rescuing his best friend's remembrall from the new school bully, then … shall we just look the other way?"

"Lets," James agreed, reaching for the letter again and re-reading the words, impossibly proud of their boy.

* * *

Harry received four letters at breakfast the next day, all brought by his mum and dad's owl and tied together in a little bunch.

The first one he opened was from his mum.

_Harry, Sweetheart we are so ridiculously proud that you are Gryffindor's new seeker. Such an amazing achievement – so, so proud of you, for standing up for your friend as well as getting on the team. Your broom will be arriving soon . Your sister is incredibly jealous. Oh yeah, and please do as your teachers ask in future and at least try to stay out of trouble. Hope everything else is going well. Give my love to Neville – I hope he is alright - and to Uncle Regulus too, love Mum._

Harry put it aside, amused. He was _not _going to give love to a professor, even if he was his uncle. The fact that Regulus Black was his uncle had started to spread – no doubt because of Malfoy – but no-one minded. There was no special treatment, and even Malfoy couldn't claim so.

The next letter was from his dad.

_Prongslet, WELL DONE SON! This was supposed to be a Howler but then your mum reminded me that McGonagall wants to keep it secret for a while, so I'm sorry that you can't hear my excitement but WELL DONE SON! So proud of you, you're going to be great. Keep us updated, love Dad. P.s as your dad I should probably tell you to listen to teachers and stuff. So there, I have done. BUT WELL DONE SON!_

Harry was grinning from ear to ear as he picked up the next one.

_Harry, congratulations on making the house team. Everyone is very proud of you. Last night your mum and Sirius spent half an hour arguing over which quidditch team you will play for when you graduate before your dad interrupted and told them that you will be playing for England, never mind the league teams. You're an excellent flier and Gryffindor is lucky to have you. Did you know you're the youngest house player in a century? Love, Uncle Moony._

The last was from Sirius.

_GO ON PRONGSLET! I always knew you'd do well at Hogwarts but GRYFFINDOR SEEKER JUST TWO WEEKS INTO TERM? DO US ALL PROUD, PUP. Love, a VERY PROUD UNCE SIRIUS. P.s mine was supposed to be a Howler too._

Ron was equally excited as were Fred and George – they were on the team too as Beaters – and the twins had just disappeared when Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle approached. Neville was still in the hospital wing.

Malfoy challenged Harry to a wizard's duel.

Harry had never taken part in a wizard's duel. He'd seen his dad and Sirius duelling in the garden often, showing off and claiming they needed to stay in practise for their jobs. Sometimes his mum and Remus joined in too.

Before he knew what he was doing, Ron had agreed to the duel on his behalf and they were meeting Malfoy in the trophy room at midnight.

Across the table, Hermione Granger had heard their conversation and told them they were very selfish and would lose the house points if they were caught but they chose not to listen.

Harry worried that evening if it was a good idea – there was a good chance they'd get caught and he shouldn't be breaking the school rules but then again, Malfoy was a prat and here was his chance to beat him face to face.

The duel turned out to be disaster, as it happened.

First, he and Ron snuck out (Neville was still in the hospital wing) and Hermione Granger was waiting in the common room for them. When she couldn't talk them out of it, she followed them, still ranting at them.

Next, they found Neville outside the portrait, having forgotten the password and needing entrance. When they explained where they were going, Neville didn't think it was a good idea but decided to join them.

Then Malfoy never turned up at the trophy room but Filch and his stupid cat did. Clearly, Malfoy had set them up and as they tried to sneak away unseen, Neville tripped over, pulling Ron with him and forcing them both to topple into a suit of armour.

They all broke into a run only to meet Peeves, who started screaming about students out of bed making them run faster.

The only door they found was locked but Hermione unlocked it and they all barrelled in.

Filch passed the door and just as they thought they were safe, the most ridiculous thing yet happened. They all turned and realised that they were sharing the room with a monstrous dog – three heads, mad rolling eyes, three drooling mouths with saliva hanging from yellowish fangs.

Harry had never run so fast in his life as they all fell out of the room and hurried back to Gryffindor tower. What the hell kind of school was this? Why was there a three headed dog in the out of bounds corridor? At least they knew why going through that door would result in a painful death now.

"What the hell is that thing doing in a school?" demanded Ron as Harry tried to catch his breath.

Hermione was furious, "It was standing on a trapdoor. Don't you use your eyes? It's guarding something. Now, I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all be been killed – or worse – expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

She stormed away and Harry frowned all the way up the stairs to the boys dorm.

The dog was guarding something. Hagrid had been to vault 713 on Hogwarts business over summer, hours before someone had broken into the same vault. Could the dog be guarding whatever had been in vault 713?

When he finally climbed into bed, Harry decided that this would _not _be included in his next letter home. If he'd successfully beaten Malfoy in a duel he might have included a version – maybe omitting the midnight sneaking out and nearly getting caught element. And definitely omitting the out-of-bounds corridor and the three headed dog.

His last thought before he fell asleep was that he owned an invisibility cloak. How could he have forgotten that he owned an invisibility cloak? This was why he wasn't a Ravenclaw, damn it.

* * *

Three weeks into September, Maia came home from working her fourth night shift of the week and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep all day. It was the end of the week and she could sleep all weekend if she liked.

When she appeared in the fireplace, the three men of the house were sitting around eating breakfast. Maia's feet hurt, it had been a long shift, and she should have been home an hour ago and it was all she could do to stay awake and upright at this point.

"Well, aren't you a sight?" Sirius snorted as she stepped out of the fireplace.

Maia glared at him, "I was stuck dealing with the world's most miserable man. A backfiring wand left him with birds flying around his head and attacking him. Really vicious. "

Remus smirked, "A very good hex, if applied correctly."

"Remember the time you did it to Rabastan Lestrange?" Sirius grinned at Remus, who merely grinned back, refusing to admit to it. If he recalled correctly, Sirius had started the whole thing anyway by jinxing Snape.

"You look tired, love," James said as he got to his feet. He hated when Maia had the night shifts, since they didn't get to spend the end of the day curled up talking about their day and their children, she wasn't there when he went to bed, and she wasn't there when he woke up.

"'S'cos I am," she replied with half a smile.

James was at her side in a moment and he pressed a kiss to her forehead and wrapped his arms around her. Maia relaxed into the embrace, resting her cheek against his chest.

"How was your night?" he asked, lifting one hand to stroke her hair, wrapping a particular curl around his finger.

"Busy," she replied as she tried to stifle a yawn, "how are you? Lyra still in bed?"

"I'm good, and yes she is," he replied.

Maia nodded in response and closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of him. He smelled so James, she thought. He smelled like their bed and although his body was harder than the bed and she wanted to put her feet up, this was very comfortable.

James noted Remus watching him with amusement and realised that he was stuck. He wasn't gettting much sense out of Maia and she seemed to be falling asleep against him. Sirius wasn't watching, too busy focused on his breakfast.

"I think maybe you should go to bed," James suggested lightly.

"Mmm, sounds good," Maia replied, stepping back from him slightly, pushing up onto her tip toes and pecking him on the lips, "see you this evening, then."

"Sweet dreams," James told her as she leaned down to pet the cat affectionately on her way out of the room.

"Don't forget to get an answer out of Nymphadora about tomorrow," Maia told him, straightening back up.

"No she _hates _being called that," Sirius told her, not for the first time since their little cousin had joined the Auror department 6 weeks ago, "she goes by her surname only."

"Well, whatever, just make sure you check that she's coming over."

Despite the young woman having worked in the office with James and Sirius, Maia still hadn't met up with her. They hadn't managed to find a date that worked but Maia was keen to see her younger cousin, and wouldn't mind seeing Andromeda either.

Nymphadora was 18 years old and James and Sirius liked her. James had quickly taken her under his wing and although it was early days, she was a great little addition to the team. She was fiery, funny and full of spirit. She was wild and rebellious, and reminded James of Sirius and Maia in their younger days. Not that they weren't still fiery and spirited, but they'd calmed at least a little as they aged.

Wanting to finally see the woman who James and Sirius spoke highly of, Maia ordered James to invite her around for dinner and a couple of drinks the next day.

Tonks had more or less said that she was coming already. The week before, she'd mentioned something to James about going out for a drink with he, Sirius and Maia. Maia sounded fun from the stories Sirius told her, and she liked Sirius and James a lot. James was a great mentor – he was a perfect cross between her boss and a friend. James had pointed out that they had a daughter and no-one to really babysit but they'd be happy for her to come around to the house.

So, Nymphadora Tonks appeared on the Potters doorstep at 4pm the next day.

She knocked on the door, having apparated to a spot down the road, despite Sirius telling her she should just apparate straight into the house – that didn't seem particularly polite really. And she wanted Maia Potter to like her.

It was Maia who answered the door and she found herself looking at a teenage girl – well, a young woman. It was strange to think that James had been this young when he started for the ministry and they all started fighting death eaters – that they'd only been a year older than this when they got married.

Nymphadora didn't look much like Andromeda but seemed to take after her dad a bit, from what Maia remembered. She'd grown up a lot since she'd last seen her, that much was certain. The most interesting things about her were her very straight turquoise hair, her violet knee-high boots, her dark dragon-hide jacket, and the huge grin on her face.

"Hi!" she said brightly, taking in her cousin.

Maia Potter was a good-looking woman. She'd heard one of the men in the office – Dawlish – talking about dancing with the Head Auror's wife at last year's christmas party but the conversation quickly ended when Sirius shot him a glare. Maia had the Black family's elegance for sure – the same high, pronounced cheekbones as Sirius, same grey eyes, dark hair that fell in lovely natural curls, and creamy pale skin.

"Hi," Maia smiled, "it's good to see you, I've been telling Jamie for weeks that we should meet up. We're disowned Blacks, we should stick together. Gosh, I haven't seen you or your mother in years, I bet you don't even remember me. Come in, come in."

Tonks smiled at her as she followed her into the house – it was strange to hear her boss being called "Jamie." She'd never heard Sirius call him that. In fact, it was strange to be in her boss's house at all.

"Erm ... thanks," Tonks said, following her into the house and tripping over her own feet, nearly knocking over a coat stand. Luckily Maia caught it but Tonks was left red-faced.

Maia could feel that the other woman was a little nervous and supposing she could see why – she didn't really know Maia, she'd never met Remus and hadn't known James or Sirius very long, and James _was_ her boss, even if he didn't act much like a boss.

"Everyone's in the garden," Maia said as the two of them walked through the house and into the kitchen, "they're playing quidditch – quidditch mad around here, me included. Anyway, how _are _you? How's the family?"

"Good, Mum and Dad are fine, Mum sends her love," Tonks said cheerfully.

Maia smiled, turning her back briefly to root around in the cupboards for something, "That's good. I should have invited your mum and dad, come to think of it. Maybe next time. I think my lot would scare her away pretty quickly – my daughter is _wild _and my husband and brother are no better, but you know that already. Ah-ha!"

She turned back to Tonks and held out a glass, "Right, what's your poison? The boys have already started drinking and dinner will be ready in an hour or so – nothing fancy mind you."

Tonks grinned – Maia Potter felt like a friend already. It didn't matter that she was older. She had a big grin that immediately put her at ease and she spoke to her like they were equals.

"Oh, I don't mind," she said, reaching into her jacket and pulling something out, "but I brought something for dinner – elf-made wine. My Mum suggested it, hope it's ok."

"It's lovely, thank you," Maia nodded taking it from her and resting it on the counter, "I'll open it with dinner. Now, how about some cider for _now, _or I have elderflower wine. Sirius keeps bringing firewhiskey into the house but maybe save that for letter, if at all."

"Cider sounds good," Tonks said.

The women went into the garden through the kitchen doors, each carrying an open bottle of cider. They saw Lyra flying high in the air, with James following her on his own broom. Sirius and Remus were sitting at a picnic table, setting up a game of wizard's chess, each with a glass of beer beside them.

"Tonks! You're here!" Sirius shouted, drawing the attention of the whole garden.

Maia and the trainee auror walked over to the picnic table and Maia watched Remus observe the young woman, taking in her turquoise hair and the bright knee high boots and the shiny dragon hide jacket. Tonks was certainly unique.

"Good to see you," Sirius grinned, standing and wrapping an arm around her shoulders and giving her a one armed hug, before gesturing at an empty spot beside him on the picnic table.

Remus had gotten to his feet and Tonks turned her attention to him. She beamed at him as she met his amber eyes and stuck out her hand, "Hi, I'm Tonks. Or I guess you could call me Dora."

Sirius raised his eyebrows slightly – Tonks had told she and James a week or so ago that they could call her Dora if they really wanted to, but everyone used surnames in the office really. He'd never heard anyone actually call her Dora – it seemed like something she didn't offer to many people.

Remus returned her smile rather shyly and Maia wasn't surprised – Remus was never immediately comfortable with new people, worrying about who might know of his werewolf status and what they would think of it.

He shook her head and said, "I'm Moon– er – Remus. I'm Remus."

"Nice to meet you," Tonks grinned, sitting down at the table beside Sirius.

Maia took a seat beside Remus and told Tonks, "Remus here lives with us too, I don't know if Sirius mentioned? We went to school together and I guess we never quite grew up because we still all live together like we're at Hogwarts."

"Because we love each other so much," Sirius grinned.

"I don't know if I _love _you Padfoot," Remus said, shooting Sirius a smirk. Sirius glared at him for his comment and turned his eyes to the board, sending one of his pieces to D5 and destroying one of Remus' pawns.

"Oh _nice _move," James said approvingly over Sirius' shoulder, having flown to the ground to see their guest. He rested a hand on Tonk's shoulder briefly as he sat on her other side, "good to see you, kid."

"Mum, Dad won't let me try a really big dive like the one from Harry's letter," Lyra complained, throwing herself down next to her mother.

Maia smiled and winked at James, "I think that's probably a good idea. Maybe when _you're_ 11, sweetheart."

"That's not fair," Lyra insisted.

Maia grinned, "I know, isn't Dad the worst? But you might need to be a little better before you can attempt a 50 foot dive. Wouldn't want you hurting yourself. Tonks, as you'll have gathered, this is my daughter Lyra."

"Are you really a metamorphagus?" Lyra asked, all thoughts of diving forgotten as she looked at the woman. She looked unlike anyone Lyra had ever seen – apart from a member of the Weird Sisters maybe.

"Yep," Tonks replied, popping the last letter and demonstrating her point by scrunching up her face for a moment, looking very thoughtful, and producing a yellow beak in place of her nose.

"_Cool!"_

It only took a couple of hours for Maia Potter and Nymphadora Tonks to decide that they liked each other very much. Remus seemed to like her too, being less shy than he usually was around strangers, and Lyra _loved_ her because she was so unique and so spirited.

Dinner was a lively affair and Tonks cemented her place in Lyra's good books by demonstrating her abilities until James told her to get on with her dinner and leave the poor witch alone.

After dinner they went out into the garden and Lyra begged Tonks to fly with her.

Tonks, as it happened, was an alright flier. She was better than Remus, who enjoyed watching and would often hover in the air to referee but didn't really enjoy playing.

As usual, they managed to play for a long time before Lyra went off to have a bath and get into bed for the night, wishing she could stay up longer but actually feeling tired, which was really annoying.

When Lyra had gone upstairs, the adults moved into the living room. Sirius disappeared for a minute and when he reappeared, he was carrying a bottle of firewhiskey and wearing a cheeky grin.

"Who's up for-"

"Is this _really_ a good-"

"Oh of course it-"

"Tonks lives with her parents. We wouldn't want-"

"They _won't_ worry, she's with her big-"

"Andy _knows_ what we're like-"

Tonks watched the back and forth between the twins with fascination. She'd never known twins and these two were very close and almost seemed to understand each other perfectly, able to guess what the other was about to say before they even thought it.

Sirius poured Maia a glass without waiting for her to say anything else, "C'mon sis, drink up. Tonks, will your parents worry if you're not home by a certain time? If you, maybe you could borrow by owl and send them a quick note." He looked at Maia as if to say "Happy now?"

Soon stories were being swapped about their most mischievous adventures at Hogwarts and the twins were locked in a battle of trying to tell Tonks the most outrageous stories about each other.

The more drinks they had, the more laughter and the more stories were revealed.

Sirius was being a bad influence and it had long since been decided that Tonks would just sleep here – they had enough spare rooms – and they'd told her parents about it.

Tonks had taken over the radio, blasting out the Weird Sister's newest hits, which were edgier than all of their other work, and a drunken Sirius had danced her around the living room.

James kept insisting that he was _fine _but he was far from it and Remus contemplated admitting defeat and going to bed. Maia was deep in conversation with Tonks whilst Sirius was dancing with himself now and James swayed in the doorway, kind of wanting to go get a glass of water or even go to bed, but just watching his wife.

"Oi, shtop sh-sh-staring," Maia slurred, breaking her conversation with Tonks to point at James.

James pouted at her, "But you're so pretty."

Remus made his way over to the door, receiving a chorus of boos when admitting he was going to bed, and wrapped an hand around James' upper arm, "C'mon Prongsy, think its bed time."

"Lightweights," Maia scoffed, waving her hand dismissively in their direction and turning back to Tonks. She jumped in surprise when James appeared beside her and pressed his lips to her cheek sloppily, making Tonks both laugh and grimace.

"Go to bed," Maia told him, "I'll be along soon."

Maia woke up the next morning and found that it was _not_ an average sunday morning. Instead of being curled up in bed with her husband, she was laying on the living room sofa, still dressed in yesterdays clothes. Slowly sitting up, she felt her head banging and looked around to see Tonks asleep soundly on the other sofa and Sirius passed out on the floor.

Oh shit. They'd gotten Andy's daughter drunk on their first attempt to be family or even friends with her. Maia's memory was sketchy but she was pretty sure that most of it was Sirius' fault, and Tonks had been pretty up for it too. And if she remembered correctly, Sirius had been in the worst state of them all.

She was too old for this, she thought. They'd all thought they were 18 again last night and now she had the hangover to match and was glad that she knew several different potions to effectively solve the predicament.

Thankfully when the young woman woke up, only minutes after Maia, she was completely fine and Maia wished she could wake up with no hangover just like that. Maia was also sure that she and Sirius were bad influences but Tonks didn't seem to mind at all and left in a good mood, insisting that they should meet up again soon.

"Not for a very long time," Remus grumbled, rubbing his temples with his fingers as they watched her practically skip down the path and out of the grounds of the manor house.

"Now, now, drink your potion," Maia said soothingly, taking hold of him by the sleeve and tugging him towards the kitchen.

"I think I'm dying," James said, banging his head on the kitchen table as he tried to go to sleep on it, and immediately wincing.

"Don't be like that," Maia teased, rubbing his back and feeling much better after drinking her own potion, "come on, drink. You'll feel better. And look on the bright side – Regulus is coming round this afternoon so we can have a thorough update on our son!"

"Stop shouting _please," _James begged, lifting his head from the table to look at her.

Sirius smirked as he strode into the kitchen, also feeling alright – he had a freaky ability not to get hangovers that the rest of them did not - "Personally, I think it was a great night."

"Thank Merlin Tonks is alright though," Maia pointed out, "I'd hate for Andy to think we were bad influences."

"You _are_," James grumbled, to which Remus nodded.

"_Please_," scoffed his wife, rolling her eyes as she rubbed his back in gentle circles, "you're big enough and old enough to take care of yourself. You know full well what mixing Sirius with a bottle of firewhiskey can do, and you let yourself be drawn into it."

James whined and pushed his chair back, suddenly reaching out for Maia and pulling her into his lap, where he wrapped his arms around her.

"Stop shouting," he mumbled, "we're going on our anniversary break next week and I need to have recovered by then but I think I'll be dead."

"Don't be so dramatic James."

"Might go back to bed," he said, "come with me?"

"But I feel fine," Maia shrugged, a smile playing on her lips.

"Come to bed."

"Ugh," Remus all but growled, nursing his own hangover, "will both of you just get out of here and go to bed where I don't have to listen to you?"

"Seconded."

"Shut up Padfoot."


	6. Hallowe'en

**Note: Thanks as ever for all of your reviews! I received several guest reviews on the last chapter but as I can't send direct replies so guests, there's just a few reviews I want to address.**

**To the guest who said 30 year olds don't have grey hairs or lines on their faces and accused me of being a child to think so: I'm 21 years old and have found a few grey hairs. I'm not saying James and Maia are fully grey and wrinkled but its not unusual to have a few lines forming around the eyes or on the forehead at age 30 or to have a few grey hairs.**

**To the guest who said it was embarrassing that James and Maia dress like peasants when they have money: Sorry you feel like that, not really sure where you've got that from.  
As for the pairings, there seems to be a lot of negative feelings about Harry and Ginny so I might reconsider and pair Harry with Hermione. There are mixed feelings over Lyra with Fred/George and Lyra with Neville too but it will be a long time before the stories reach a point with pairings for the Potter children so no need to worry about this.  
**

* * *

Chapter Six

The last week of September – Harry's fourth week at school – was both difficult for Maia, and incredibly enjoyable.

James had organised a break for he and Maia as a celebration of their anniversary – or at least, the anniversary of the time they got together. Their actual wedding anniversary was in December, but they'd agreed it wasn't right to leave the children at Christmas.

One of the aurors in James' office had loaned him his family's Italian villa for the week and Maia excitedly packed all of her things, ready for a romantic break at the beach with her husband. It was only when they went to leave that she realised she'd be leaving Lyra for a week,for the first time ever, and she'd miss letters from Harry.

It had taken a lot of convincing from Lyra, Remus, Sirius and James that they should just go on their holiday – Lyra would be fine with her uncles, they could check in via the floo network in the middle of the week and when they did, Remus, Sirius and Lyra could read them any communication that they'd received from Harry.

The holiday turned out to be very enjoyable as soon as Maia was convinced that her children were fine and Potter Manor wouldn't fall apart without her.

Maia spent the week enjoying the Italian sunshine, sipping drinks on the beach, trying to outrun James as he chased her around the villa's pool and tried to throw her in, and enjoying her husband far away from their ordinary lives with jobs and responsibilities.

Maia had almost forgotten what it was like not to get up and go to work several times a week, not to cook breakfast for the family most mornings of the week, not to come home and make dinner, clean the house and make sure her family were taken care of.

She'd forgotten what it was like to have a full week to devote to each other without worrying about anyone else. She'd forgotten what it was like to spend most days working around each other's jobs and only seeing each other briefly in the mornings, and only being fully alone once they climbed into bed at the end of the day – it was certainly a welcome break from all the chaos Harry, Lyra and Sirius, and occasionally Remus, caused.

There were no arguments, no convincing Lyra that she really should go to bed, no telling Sirius off after coming into the house as a dog and bringing mud in, no telling James off for helping their daughter annoy the cat.

There was only one disagreement at all and even _that _wasn't a serious argument.

On the last day of their break, Maia lounged by the pool of the villa they were staying in. She adored the beach but the villa was nice and private and she could spend all the time with her husband, neither of them having to pretend to be muggles.

"This has been lovely," Maia smiled, sipping on her glass of wine slowly.

"Mm," James agreed at her side, rolling over onto his stomach and looking up into her eyes. He'd long since charmed two of the plastic sun loungers together so they could sit without a gap between them. Maia was sitting up, eyes on the tranquil swimming pool but they flickered down to meet her husband's hazel eyes as he lay at her side.

"It'll be lovely to go home and see the kids ..." she frowned, "well, see Lyra."

"Harry'll be home for Christmas before we know it," James told her, reaching out to take hold of her wrist after she put her wine glass down. He tugged her hand towards him and pressed a kiss to the back of it. Maia smiled slightly, and when his hold on her wrist loosened, she reached out to rest her hand on his face, the back of her hand brushing his cheek fondly.

"Thank you for all of this," she smiled, as James turned his face inwards to place a kiss on her palm and then looked back up at her. She chuckled and stroke his cheek affectionately.

"You're very welcome, my darling," James told her happily.

"I'll have to get you something very thoughtful for Christmas, in return," Maia told him.

James suddenly looked extremely mischievous and he clambered up into a sitting position, making Maia's hand drop from his face down to the sun lounger, between them.

"I've been thinking, actually," James said.

Maia was unsure where he was going with it but he looked very mischievous and she wasn't sure she wanted to hear what he was about to say. "Oh?"

James' confident smile fell only slightly into seriousness as he shuffled closer and picked up her hand, holding it carefully in both of his, "Maia … what if … what if we have another one?"

"Another … what?" Maia asked in confusion.

James cleared his throat, confidence fading with every passing second but still smiled at her, "Well … you know, another … another baby."

Maia raised her eyebrows, "I … I beg your pardon?"

All of James confidence seemed to have disappeared by now though she could tell that he was putting on a front. He smiled still, but looked away from her and back again, "I just thought … I think I'd like … I was just thinking … what if we have a baby? "

Maia was extremely surprised but James seemed to be serious and she wasn't sure how to react. It had barely crossed her mind that she might have another baby now – not with her children 9 and 11.

"You want to have another baby?" Maia repeated.

James threw her a playful grin, having dropped her hand to run his own hand through his hair, looking quite sheepish but pushing the issue. "Well, I always said I wanted a quidditch team."

"Yeah but that was _then_," Maia pointed out, "before we had Harry and Lyra. And you were never serious."

James smirked slightly, "Wasn't I? I'd have liked a quidditch team of little Potters running around."

The issue of more children had come up when Lyra was about 2, and they'd tried for another child unsuccessfully – though they had both agreed that they would see how it went, and eventually when Maia didn't become pregnant again, they chose to move on.

Maia still didn't know whether to take him seriously or not, "Are you … is this for real?"

James nodded, "You don't seem too enthusiastic about it."

She shrugged, avoiding his eyes, "I just … we've got enough on with the two we've already got, and we both work, and … I hadn't really thought about it. I thought we were done with babies. "

"We're not so old and tired, you know," James told his wife, pouting slightly, "C'mon, don't you want another little baby around? It'd be fun."

Maia sighed, not quite sure how she felt, " Fun? Idon't think you're thinking about what a huge thing this would be. This isn't like some … new broomstick."

"I know _that_!"

"Well it sounds like you haven't really thought about it, darling," Maia told him, trying to keep her tone light so that he wouldn't think she was trying to start an argument.

"Oh, does it?" James asked her, a frown forming.

"I'm just saying, having another baby isn't just something you do on a whim-"

"Really? I'd no idea," James deadpanned.

Maia ignored him, "We've got a lot on with our 11 year old - who is the most famous child in our world and was attacked by Voldemort when he was one – and our little madam of a 9 year old. I just don't know ..."

"Fine," James replied, "but Harry's safely off at school, and Lyra isn't so bad. We could handle another one."

Maia sighed, "Yes but … I just don't know if I want another baby."

"Oh."

They sat in silence for a few moments before Maia cleared her throat and broke it, "How long have you been thinking about this? I had no idea."

"Couple of weeks," James replied.

Maia nodded but then frowned in suspicion and turned to look at him, "A couple of weeks? As in, since Harry went off to school?"

"It's not about that," James replied quickly, "I'm not replacing Harry. Don't say that this is about replacing Harry. "

"I'm not suggesting that, it's just … curious timing and it's natural to miss him, so maybe you started thinking about Lyra going off to school soon, and maybe trying to ... fill the nest.""

James turned to look at her with a certain ferocity in his eyes, "Maia, I love you. And I love Harry and Lyra, and I'm just letting you know that I think I'd like another baby. What do you think?"

Maia stared at him – he looked so serious, eyes shining with ferocity and his jaw set in determination. She nodded and reached out to take hold of his hand, curling her fingers tightly around his.

"Jamie, I love you too," she said, "and you're a wonderful dad. You're the best. I just … I don't know if I want to have another baby. I don't know if I could do it. We've got enough on with our two."

James looked momentarily disappointed and quickly tore his eyes away from hers, but he nodded and leaned in, pressing his lips to her forehead in a brief kiss. "Fine," he said gently.

Maia bit her lip, "Jamie I just … I don't know."

"Will you think about it, at least?"

Maia imagined another child running around, maybe another little girl, this time with James' beautiful hazel eyes, or a little boy who was as sweet as Harry. Still … she looked at James and saw his hopeful face and smiled slightly.

"I'll think about it," she told him.

James nodded, "Thank you, love," he mumbled.

Maia smiled and reached out for him, tangling her hand in his hair as she moved in close. James smiled slightly and slowly wrapped an arm around her waist in return, closing his eyes as she pressed a light kiss to his lips.

"You _will_ think about it?" James asked her as she pulled away.

"Yes," Maia replied honestly, "but don't expect an answer any time soon. It's … a lot."

"I know," James replied, as they both returned their gaze to the swimming pool. A huge grin crossed James' face as he replied, "I _can_ be patient, you know."

Maia nodded, slowly sitting up and swinging her legs off the sun-lounger, "You realise if we have another one, we'll almost certainly have to name it after Sirius. He'd never forgive us for having three babies and not naming one after him."

James scoffed, watching his wife get to feet and slowly getting to his too, "I can't wait for Sirius to meet someone. Think of all the fun we can have convincing him to name his first-born son James Prongs Black."

"Prongs would be a terrible middle name, darling," Maia replied, lips curling up with amusement as she stretched her arms up over her head and turned her back on him.

He watched her take a few steps forwards and dip her toes in the water and got to his feet too, "Oh really?"

Maia looked over her shoulder and raised her eyebrows at him when she saw him approaching with a devillish grin. His grin was wicked, and she knew she was moments away from being thrown into the swimming pool unceremoniously, and instead she turned to the water and dived in for herself.

Behind her, James shouted her name and jumped in the pool after her, chasing her to the other side. He was a faster swimmer and managed to reach the other side just before her. Once there, he smirked.

"I win."

Resting her hand on the side as she got there, Maia stuck her tongue out at him.

"Prongs would be an amazing middle name, just so you know," James said.

"Shut up."

Once home from their holiday, Maia was incredibly pleased to see her family again. She pulled Lyra in for an extremely tight hug, relieved to see her after being away from her for the first time ever. Lyra, for all her front, had actually missed her mum and dad, and hugged them both happily. Sirius hadn't caused too much chaos and Remus had taken good care of everyone, and Maia was very happy to be back with her daughter.

Life continued in the next month just as it had in the first month of Harry's time at Hogwarts.

Maia and James heard from Harry a couple of times a week, and he seemed to be well settled by now. They'd sent him his broomstick and he was training several times a week for the Gryffindor quidditch team, as it sounded like the captain was obsessed, much like James had once been. He had a firm friend in Ron Weasley, as well as Neville, and he seemed to get on well with the other boys in his dorm and the older Weasleys.

Regular updates came from Regulus each Sunday when he came over for lunch, and Maia loved hearing about everything through her brother's eyes. He might only see Harry a few times a week, but they all knew news travelled fast at Hogwarts.

Nymphadora Tonks made more appearances at the manor, and she was very well liked by the whole house. She'd been around a few times on weekends to have a drink with them, and Maia was growing to like her very much.

She was funny, bold and everything she and Sirius had been when they were younger, and still were in many ways. The fact that she was several years younger hardly mattered – Maia had never really felt her age.

James and Sirius liked her too, and Lyra adored her. Every time Tonks was over, Lyra loved to talk to her and tried to get her to play with her and pull her favourite faces. Even Remus took to Tonks well enough, despite usually being shy around new people. In fact Maia had been surprised at how easily Remus got along with her.

Whilst she was getting to know her young cousin, Maia reconnected with Andromeda.

Andromeda was lovely but far calmer than any of Maia's lot. They had Andromeda and Ted over for a drink one evening, along with Tonks, and although it was lovely, it was apparent that Maia and the others were to have a very different relationship with Andromeda than they were with Tonks.

Over the month that followed, Tonks came over a few times for drinks in the evening, and their contact with Andromeda was a more civil tea-time. The Tonks family didn't join them for Sunday dinners however – it seemed they had their own traditions of going to Ted's mother's house.

Soon enough, it was Hallowe'en, and Harry had been at Hogwarts for two months.

Hallowe'en happened to be a Friday that year, and Maia woke up to find the bed empty beside her. It was unsurprising since Hallowe'en was such an emotional day for them. James could always be counted upon to be up early.

Maia dressed for work as usual, pinning her hair back but leaving a curl hanging down by her face, and dragging on line green robes. She almost tripped over Hera in the hallway and smiled, leaning down to scoop her up in her arms and carrying her down the stairs.

She found James standing by the sink, looking out across the garden. He was holding a mug and stirring his morning tea slowly, and didn't look over his shoulder when she entered the room. Maia set Hera down on the floor, and to her surprise, the cat went slinking over to James and started to wrap herself around his legs.

James looked down and briefly reached down to scratch her ears.

"Morning darling," Maia said softly, resting a hand on his back gently as she drew level with with.

James straightened up, allowing the cat to continue to wind herself around his legs, and turned to smile slightly at her, "Good morning."

"You ok?" she asked.

James nodded wordlessly, turning away from her for a moment to pick up another mug from the counter, and pressing it into her hands as he turned back to her. Maia smiled, lifting the piping hot mug of tea to her lips and mumbling her thanks.

The pair of them stared out of the window, and Maia knew James' thoughts were similar to her own.

She pictured her lovely mother and father in law, who had taken she and Sirius in when they had nowhere else to go. She thought of all the times they had sat in this very room, Mrs Potter making her best pancakes for the teenagers, and Mr Potter reading the Daily Prophet, pushing his glasses back up his nose repeatedly. All the times, when she was a bit older, that she shared a pot of tea with Mrs Potter, who tried to teach her how to cook and bake, whilst James helped his dad in the garden. And then she thought of that fateful night, all those years ago.

"You'll be finished work by 5, won't you?" James asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Absolutely," Maia replied, "I'll be home by 5."

"It'll be strange not to have Harry with us," James mused, clutching his mug close.

Maia nodded. Every year on Hallowe'en, they all went to lay flowers on Mr and Mrs Potters graves. It was not the only time they visited all year – they visited many times, but Hallowe'en was the most important. Their evening meal was spent reminiscing and sharing their favourite memories of James' parents, and they always followed it up by sharing a drink in their memory.

"Maybe I should write to him," Maia frowned, "I hope he's ok."

"I'm sure he's fine," James replied quietly.

Maia often worried that the anniversary of being attacked by Voldemort would be an incredibly difficult day for Harry, but every year he proved that he was much stronger than she thought. It wasn't as if he remembered his grandparents or anything about the attack, except from a lot of green light. In truth, Hallowe'en was a much worse day for James and Maia than it was for Harry.

"We haven't heard from him in a couple of days," Maia pointed out.

Hallowe'en was also the reason that she had such separation anxiety when it came to the children.

"That's because he's busy," James replied, "quidditch practise 4 times a week, his last letter said. Must be time for his first match soon."

"So, you think he's ok?" Maia asked, biting her lower lip.

"He's fine," James told her, setting his mug down on the counter and turning to her, reaching out to put his hands on her shoulders and turning her in to face him. Looking down at her, he smiled slightly, "Harry's fine. He's always fine on Hallowe'en, you know that, but we could still write to him."

Maia nodded. Hallowe'en was a constant reminder of not just Mr and Mrs Potter's deaths, but their sacrifice for Harry and how close Harry had come to being taken away from them. Even though she knew he was just fine, Maia couldn't help but worry about him, and she was well aware of how irrational she could be when it came to her children.

"And are you ok?" Maia asked her husband, raising her eyebrows.

"'S'been a long time," James replied, looking down for a second but finally meeting her eyes again, "I'm as fine as I can be. And you, love?"

"Ok too," Maia agreed.

James nodded and leaned down to kiss her forehead, "Good."

Maia's day at work was fairly average but as the time grew closer to 5pm, she worked faster and was completely ready to leave just before 5. She appeared home in the fireplace at exactly 5pm and found Remus waving his wand at the sink, making the dishes wash themselves up.

"Evening," he said, looking over his shoulder.

"Hi," Maia replied, stepping out of the fireplace and pulling out he hairband, letting her hair tumble down around her shoulders.

"You're in the newspaper today," Remus told her, nodding at the paper, which was thrown on the kitchen table.

Maia frowned, "Really? If Rita Skeeter has been writing more rubbish about me, thinking she's some sort of expert on relationships, always trying to snap pictures of us -"

Remus chuckled, cutting her off, "Relax, it's not one of Rita Skeeter's articles, and it's not much."

"Page 4, I think," Sirius added, strolling into the room with his hands stuffed into his robes.

Maia nodded, grasping the newspaper and turning to page 4. She laid it out on the table and frowned as she read the headline. It read "Wizarding World celebrates anniversary of Dark Lord defeat."

Below the headline were several pictures. There was one of the minister for magic inside the ministry that morning, laying flowers on the memorial for all those who had died in the war that sat in the foyer. There were some of various celebrations being set up around the country, but the biggest picture was of James and Maia.

They were walking through the nearby village of Chudley together hand in hand, and Maia recognised it as being last weekend. She rolled her eyes – the press loved to take pictures of them as if they were some big celebrity couple, especially around this time of year. It was all very annoying, given that the Potters liked to keep themselves private. On the first anniversary of that fateful day, Rita Skeeter had sent her photographer to take pictures of them visiting both the memorial to Mr and Mrs Potter that sat in Godric's Hollow, and their graves in Chudley. Maia had sent the woman a very strongly worded howler and it had never happened again.

In this particular picture, they were strolling hand in hand, and Maia was wrapped up in her warmest cloak and her old Gryffindor scarf. Photo-James turned his head to look at photo-Maia, and a soft smile crossed his face, although photo-Maia didn't notice as she was pulling her scarf tighter.

Despite being unimpressed with being in the newspapers, Maia scanned the article. There was little mention of them, apart from the basics – a few sentences saying that the Potters were bound to be remembering the loss of Mr and Mrs Potter, who had sacrificed themselves for baby Harry.

Looking back at the picture, she smiled a little at the look on James' face as he looked at her. Even after all these years, he managed to look at her with such adoration.

"Oh, so you've seen?" James asked, strolling into the room as Maia dropped the newspaper.

"Never mind that," Maia said, turning around to face him and smiling, "should be use to see us all over the newspaper. How was your day?"

"Not bad," James replied, stepping forward and pulling her in for a hug, "and just so you know, I think you look very pretty in that picture."

"That's just because it's your job to think I'm pretty," Maia mumbled into his shoulder as he chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"No it's not," chuckled James after he let go of her, "but you _do_ look very pretty."

Maia shook her head at him and looked around at the whole room, "So, are we ready? Where's Ly? Has somebody got a flower?"

"I've got it," James replied, as Sirius went back into the hallway and shouted for Lyra.

Lyra came into the room moments later and was swept into a hug by her dad and didn't protest when he then wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kept hold of her all the way to the front door.

Hallowe'en had to be especially strange for Lyra, who had never met her grandparents, but heard many stories of them and had visited their graves with her parents many times. She wished she'd known them because they sounded wonderful, but she knew they'd died as heroes to protect her brother.

The Potters were buried in the small church graveyard in Chudley, amongst other Potters, as Potter Manor had belonged to generations and generations of the family, and amongst other wizarding families.

The walk there was short, and James walked on ahead with Lyra. Lyra talked the whole way there about her day, clearly trying to make her dad feel better and fill the silence, since no-one else was talking much. Maia walked between Sirius and Remus, her arm linked through her brother's, and the two of them mumbling to each other.

Once they reached the cemetery, they all feel quiet. James walked the familiar path to the two grave which sat side by side.

Once there, they all gathered around in a semi-circle. Maia was the first to move and she drew her wand slowly, then pointed it at the graves, mumbling a spell and cleaning them up a bit.

James stepped forward and stroked a hand over his mother's headstone gently, then patted his father's. A few moments of silence followed as they all stood, reflecting.

"Shall we lay the wreath?" Sirius suggested.

James nodded and silently drew the flower he'd picked from their back garden, from his robes. It was a lovely red rose, which his mother had always grown in the garden, and they'd continued to grow. He transfigured it easily into a whole wreath and he glanced at Maia.

Maia stepped closer to him and also took hold of the wreath and together they leaned down to place it on the graves of their beloved parents.

Their visit was mostly quiet. When James came by himself, or just with Maia, he liked to talk to them, but not so much in front of everyone else. Still, he felt his eyes tear up at their memory and was grateful when Maia took hold of his hand and squeezed it firmly.

Sirius blinked a tear away from his eyes and grinned at the headstones as if he could see the Potters, and said, "Such great parents. Especially when they ended up with three children."

"_And_ they fussed over you two more than they did me," James said, a smile crossing his face.

Maia shrugged, "Well _someone_ had to."

James and Maia were the last to leave. Before she left, Maia sighed and looked at each of their names and said, "Thank you _so _much." For everything, she thought. For providing her with James, for being her parents when she had none, and for protecting her son.

She turned away and walked slowly out of the cemetery, knowing that James needed a second alone. When he caught up with her, he cleared his throat quickly and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in closer than he usually would.

Maia turned to smile at him slightly, tearing her eyes away from Lyra, Remus and Sirius in front of them. "You ok?" she whispered.

"I miss them," James replied, "even after all this time."

"Me too."

* * *

Meanwhile at Hogwarts, Harry could hardly believe he had been there for two months.

On Hallowe'en morning, he found it very strange to know he wasn't at home and wouldn't be visiting his grandparents graves with the rest of his family. He knew Hallowe'en meant celebration to everyone else, but found it very strange.

He knew his mum was worried about him but had assured her in his last letter that he was perfectly fine. He had certainly never mentioned the wizard's duel he almost had and the three-headed dog to his parents. Neville was happy to never speak about it again, and Harry and Ron had never mentioned it again either, though Harry often thought about it.

Hermione hadn't spoken to them since that night but was forced to speak to Ron that day in Charms class.

Harry was fitting behind them with Neville and winced when Ron was paired with Hermione as the class practised their levitation charms (Wingardium Leviosa – Harry managed to make his feather twitch but not much more).

It was hard to miss Hermione perfectly levitating her feather after snapping at Ron that he was saying the spell wrong, and no _wonder_ he couldn't do it.

After class, Ron was very unimpressed with the situation, huffing to Harry, "It's no wonder no-one can stand her. She's a nightmare, honestly."

Hermione knocked into Ron as she brushed past him and Harry was startled to see tears on her cheeks. He and Neville exchanged a look, feeling very bad for her, and even Ron had the good grace to look uncomfortable.

Hermione didn't appear at their next lesson and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down for the Hallowe'en feast – which Harry's parents had told him was a grand affair with the best pumpkin pie they'd ever had – they overheard Parvati Patil telling Lavender Brown that she'd come across Hermione crying in the girls toilets and wanting to be left alone.

Ron looked incredibly awkward.

The feast itself was incredibly grand, with a thousand live bats fluttering from the walls and ceilings and swooping over the tables in low black clouds. The tables were covered in golden plates, and Harry was helping himself to a jacket potato when the doors burst open and Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the hall, looking completely terrified.

"Troll!" he screamed, "in the dungeons – thought you ought to know."

With that, he passed out in a dead faint and there was an uproar. Dumbledore suppressed it with several purple firecrackers and ordered that the prefects escort their houses back to the dormitories.

Percy immediately took charge of the Gryffindors and Harry, Neville and Ron followed him. Neville clutched at Harry's arm and kept repeating that he didn't understand how a troll could get in, and Harry had to admit that he didn't either. Ron agreed, adding that they were supposed to be stupid, so maybe Peeves had let it in as a joke.

Wondering if three headed dogs and trolls were common at Hogwarts, and if they were, why his parents and uncle had never mentioned anything like this, Harry tried to reassure himself that Dumbledore would be able to get rid of a troll easily enough, but suddenly a terrible thought struck him and he stood rooted to the spot.

Neville and Ron stopped too and Harry stared at them, "Hermione – she doesn't know about the troll! We should find her."

Neville and Ron both looked nervous but they could hardly say that they wouldn't go and find her, especially when Ron was the reason that she was locked up in a bathroom.

"Come on," Ron said, "Percy mustn't see us."

They almost immediately ducked out of the Gryffindor line and joined the Hufflepuffs who were going the other way, slipped down a deserted corridor and hurried off towards the girls toilets. Neville gave a nervous squeak as they hid from a passing teacher behind a large stone griffin, and Harry told him hurriedly to be quiet.

Harry held his breath as he saw that the passing professor was in fact his uncle, who disappeared from their view and up a staircase that they knew led to the third floor. Harry frowned- unusual – but at least they hadn't been seen.

"Harry!" hissed Ron, tugging at his sleeve and pointing.

Harry turned to see something huge moving towards them. It was letting out low grunts and smelt foul. It had to be twelve feet tall, skin dull and grey and its lumpy body like a boulder, with a small heard perched on top. It was dragging along a huge wooden club and it stopped in a doorway, peered inside, then slouched slowly into the room.

"The key's in the lock," Harry muttered, "we could lock it in."

"G-good idea," agreed Neville nervously as they edged forwards and with one leap, Harry grabbed the key, slammed the door and locked it – only to hear a petrified scream coming from inside. They had just locked the troll in the girls toilets, along with Hermione.

Harry had never battled a troll but there was a first time for everything and it seemed that there was no choice here but to run into the room and rescue Hermione.

Once in the room, they found the troll advancing on Hermione and desperately tried to confuse it. Harry threw a tap at the wall, as the troll had knocked the sinks off the walls. It advance on Harry until Ron threw something at it, and Neville very shakily picked up a piece of debris and threw it – managing to miss the troll completely.

Ron hit it on the shoulder as he threw something else, and the troll advanced on him, giving Hermione room to move away from the wall. Harry encouraged her to run but she was stuck to the wall with terror.

Ron now seemed to have no way to escape and Neville looked close to tears.

Harry hoped that if he survived this, his mother wouldn't murder him, and he took a running jump and fastened his arms around the troll's neck from behind. Harry ended up stuffing his wands straight up one of the troll's nostrils, forcing it to howl in pain, twisting and flailing its club, Harry clinging on for dear life.

Neville pulled out his wand and looked desperately at Ron, "We need to do something!"

Ron pulled out his wand too and shouted the first thing he could think of, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

To everyone's surprise, it worked and the troll's club flew out of its hand, hovered in the air and dropped heavily onto its head with a sickening crunch. The troll swayed on the spot and fell flat on its face, and Harry very gratefully clambered to his feet.

The four of them could hardly believe what had happened and Harry wondered if there was any way that this could be kept a secret. Maybe they could sneak out before any teachers arrived. They might have just saved Hermione's life but it was their fault she was in danger in the first place.

No such luck, it seemed. There was a sudden slamming of loud footsteps and Professor McGonagall came bursting into the room, followed by Uncle Regulus and Professor Quirrell.

Regulus raised his eyebrows at his nephew as if to ask "_Really? You couldn't stay out of trouble?" _and Harry could almost see the same look on his mother's face. Regulus looked him up and down, as if looking for injuries, them brushed past them all to look at the troll. Quirrell sank to his knees in terror, looking very sick.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" demanded Professor McGonagall furiously, "You're lucky you weren't killed! Why aren't you in your dormitories?!"

Surprisingly enough, Hermione came to their rescue, insisting that it was all her fault because she'd tried to take the troll on alone and they were just coming to her rescue.

McGonagall berated Hermione for being so foolish and took five points from her, then dismissed her. She then turned to the boys and shook her head at them.

"You were lucky. Not many first-years could have taken on a fully grown mountain troll and lived to tell the tale. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this, and I will also be writing to your families to inform them of your foolishness. You may go."

"Please Professor, not Gran-" Neville started, but he stopped when he saw her sharp glare.

"You may go," she repeated.

"Not so fast Harry," Regulus said, having finished inspecting the troll and determining that it was knocked out but not dead, "a quick word, if you will."

Neville and Ron left the room and Harry was sure they'd be waiting in the hallway for him. He stepped around Quirrell,who was still cowering on the floor in spite of being the defence teacher, an looked up at his uncle, shuffling nervously from foot to foot as he looked into the eyes that were identical to his mother's.

"You're alright?" Regulus asked, raising his eyebrows.

Harry nodded silently and felt more relaxed when Regulus smirked slightly, "What were you thinking, kid?"

"He _wasn't_," Professor McGonagall replied sternly.

"_Do _try to stay out of trouble in the future," Regulus drawled, the smirk disappearing from his face as he remembered the formidable Professor McGonagall watching them, "your mother is going to be furious, I hope you know."

Harry nodded, "I … yes. I don't suppose you could … erm … talk to her?"

"Oh I'll talk to her," Regulus told his nephew, "but there's no way to gently break to her the fact that her son battled a fully grown mountain troll. Maybe you should go to bed."

Harry nodded and turned to leave the room, avoiding McGonagall's eyes and shooting Quirrell a look of disgust as he still snivelled on the floor.

Regulus called after him, "Don't worry too much. This was a foolish Gryffindor thing to do, so they'll probably be proud deep _deep_ down."

* * *

Maia woke up after her husband the next morning, ready to enjoy a relaxing weekend. He mumbled a "good morning" when he realised she was awake and wrapped his arms around her, pulling his in for a cuddle and curling his body around hers.

"Shall we just stay here today?" James suggested, running one of his hands down her arms and pressing a kiss to her jaw.

"Mm that would be nice," Maia replied, "but we promised that we'd go down to the beach with Lyra today. You know how much she loves it."

"It's the first of November," James replied, "it's not beach weather."

"As long as it's not raining – which it's not – then who cares?" Maia replied, grinning as he kissed her jaw again, "we are spending the day with our daughter, so – mmm, that's nice – get out of bed."

"I'm getting mixed signals here," James told her, tightening his arm around her waist and moving in closer, "do you not want me to kiss you, love?"

Maia groaned, "Stop trying to sex me, we can't spend all day in bed."

James pouted but gave in and sat up, prepared to go down for breakfast. He dragged on a shirt and some pajama bottoms and left the room, and a few minutes later, Maia rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of pajama bottoms and her dressing gown, and also headed downstairs.

James was the only person in the kitchen when Maia entered it but she could hear Sirius and Remus chatting away in the living room – it sounded like Remus was reading bits of the newspaper aloud. Lyra, usually a late sleeper, was probably in bed, she thought, or maybe packing herself abag for the beach since she loved it so much.

"Tea?" James asked without turning around.

"Lovely," Maia replied, "thank you, darling."

As she approached, she noticed an owl sitting on the windowsill that she didn't recognise and she raised her eyebrows, "Jamie – what's this?"

"It's called an owl, love," he replied with a smirk, handing her a mug of tea.

"You're a fool," Maia replied somewhat fondly, "where's it from?"

"I haven't read the letter yet," James admitted, "but the envelope is addressed in emerald green and it has a wax red seal on the back, I'm afraid."

"Hogwarts then," Maia said, as James put down his tea and reached for the envelope, whilst Maia briefly petted the owl.

"Shall I open it?" asked James.

Maia nodded, "Let's get it over with. What do you think it is? I hope it's good news."

It seemed unlikely, she thought. Hogwarts didn't often write home with good news, but then again, the last time they'd gotten a letter home it had been to tell them that Harry was the new seeker, which was good, although he'd only been made seeker because he was breaking the rules. But he'd only broken the rules to defend a friend.

James ripped open the letter and held it so they could both read it. It was from Professor McGonagall, and Maia took a moment to appreciate that the woman always addressed them by their first names instead of surnames, because they'd earned it after such a long acquaintance.

_Dear James and Maia,_

_There is no easy way to tell you this, but last night a mountain troll was let into the school. We are currently investigating how this happened and can assure you it will not happen again and no-one was harmed._

_I am writing to tell you that your son sought out and engaged in a fight with the troll, when he should have been in his dormitory, as per the headmaster's instructions. It appears that he and his friends Mr Weasley and Mr Longbottom were attempting to rescue their friend Miss Hermione Granger, who was trapped with the creature. They managed to successful defeat the troll and no-one was harmed but it seemed only appropriate to inform you of this._

_Hoping you are well,_

_Minerva McGonagall _

"He. Did. What?" Maia demanded, seizing the letter from James' hands and reading it for a second time. When she was finished, she angrily threw it down onto the counter and set her hands on her hips, "can you believe this?!"

James nodded, "I know! 11 years old and successfully battling a mountain troll!"

"You sound excited," Maia said, narrowing her eyes and turning to her husband, "that is _not _the correct emotion here. He could have _died!"_

James nodded again, immediately trying to find the right words to say, "Yes, of course. He shouldn't have done it. It was very dangerous. Very dangerous."

"What the hell was he thinking?! I am going to _kill_ that boy!"

"Hang on," James said, holding up his hands in an attempt to calm her, "I don't know if ..."

"Thinking he could fight a fucking mountain troll!" Maia shouted, stabbing a finger in the direction of the letter, "he's 11 years old, and decided he could take on a troll. Even if he was doing it to save a friend, _surely _there was another solution."

"We can write to him and tell him not to dare do anything so stupid ever again," James agreed, "but he didn't do it for fun. He _was_ trying to save his friend."

"He doesn't know any magic – he should have gotten a teacher," Maia continued, "I did _not _spend 11 years raising that boy so he could decide to almost get himself killed fighting a mountain troll! A troll! I did not raise an idiot – what was he _thinking_?"

"He's a Gryffindor," James replied with a shrug, always so much more rational than his wife when it came to their son, "he was being brave and daring. _And_ chivalrous I suppose – saving a young lady friend from getting killed, and all."

"Do _not _brush this off as the boy being a Gryffindor," Maia replied, pointing her finger at him, "we were Gryffindors and we didn't chose to fight trolls in our first year."

James nodded, looking straight into her eyes and speaking calmly, "I know. But you can guarantee that if _I'd_ heard that you, or Padfoot, or Moony were trapped in a room with a troll, I'd have tried to save you, even if it was dangerous."

Maia wasn't quite sure what to say – technically he was right. Could she be angry with him for saving a friend? Merlin knew she'd be demanding a more detailed version of this story from Harry and asking Regulus if he knew anything else about it, that was for sure.

"He's reckless," Maia said, though she was no longer shouting.

"He is," James agreed, "but he's young, we just need to give him a bit of guidance."

"He shouldn't need to be _told_ not to seek out a mountain troll," Maia snapped.

"I know," James replied, "now, are you still going to kill him?"

"You're too soft on him," Maia insisted, "you should be more angry with him about this, you know."

James shrugged, "Of course I'd rather that he _didn't _go looking for a troll. Of course I think it was a stupid thing to do. If he'd just sought it out to fight for no reason, I'd go up to the school right this minute and talk some sense into him, but given that he did it to help a friend, I think we should tell him he's banned from all future possible troll fights, and leave it at that."

Maia sighed, running her hands through her hair, "He's too impulsive. He needs to think a bit more."

"I know."

"I will go straight up to the school and bring him home if he puts himself in danger like this again."

"I know."

"But I suppose … can't really berate the boy for saving his friend from a troll. I …. I was just _not _prepared for anything like this to happen."

"I know."

"What was all the shouting?!" Sirius demanded from the doorway, wearing only his pajama bottoms. Remus stood behind him and looked like he'd been trying to stop Sirius from disturbing them.

Maia sighed in exasperation and narrowed her eyes at her brother, knowing he was going to find this hilarious, "Last night your nephew got into a fight with a fully grown mountain troll."

"What? Is he alright?" Sirius demanded, eyes wide.

"He's fine, he's fine," James assured him, "apparently a troll got into the school – probably someone's idea of a Hallowe'en prank – and Harry heard that his friend Hermione was trapped in a room with it, and he went to rescue her."

"He fought a troll … and won?" Sirius asked, a grin slowly appearing on his face.

"Yes," Maia replied, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sirius let out a bark of a laugh, "Oh atta boy Harry."

"We shouldn't encourage him," Maia said warningly.

Sirius threw her a grin, "Oh _come on! _As long we know he's alright and he doesn't do it again and bla bla bla, just think about it – our boy took on a troll to rescue a friend. Isn't there a part of you that's proud of him?"

Maia sighed, "I suppose."

Sirius added, "And it's _seriously_ cool. Our boy off fighting trolls! How many people do you know who have fought a troll and won? It's _so_ cool."

When Maia went to change out of her pajamas, James told Sirius that he agreed it was very cool but maybe they should act like they were less impressed in front of Maia.

Maia wrote her son a stern letter to tell him not to ever do something so stupid again, but conceded that she was at least proud that he'd saved his friend, but she hoped in future he'd be able to find a solution that wouldn't put him in danger.

James read the letter over her shoulder as she wrote and kept adding bits in and when they were finished, Maia shrugged and looked at her husband, allowing herself to smile.

"He fought a mountain troll, can you believe it?" she sighed, close to laughing.

James smirked and picked up the letter McGonagall had sent, "I'm going to keep this. I kept the letter about him becoming the team seeker. I'm going to start a collection of all the letters we get home."

Maia narrowed her eyes at him, "I'm hoping there won't be many more.

"Of course, me too," James said quickly, "so I'll just start a very _small_ collection. It'll be something to show the grandkids one day."

Maia frowned at the thought of one day being a grandmother, and James laughed and pacified her by leaning over a pressing a kiss to her cheek. Maia couldn't help but smile.

"You know, it's no wonder Harry can't stay out of trouble anyway – just look at what he has for parents."

* * *

**Note: Sorry for the delay in chapters! I'm currently studying for my final uni exams so everything is a bit hectic! **


	7. End of Term

**Note: For those who asked, James and Maia will possibly be having another baby at some point but I'm not sure when would be an appropriate time. I don't want it to be too late, because I don't want Maia out of the action in the later books, so it would probably be in this book, Chamber of Secrets or Prisoner of Azkaban. Suggestions welcome, as always.**

* * *

Chapter Seven

Harry received a strongly worded letter from his mother for the troll incident, but was just grateful that it wasn't a howler, and his parents seemed to put the incident behind them pretty quickly.

As they entered November and the weather turned cold, the quidditch season began. Harry's first match was on Saturday and he'd be playing Slytherin. The news about him being seeker had leaked out, and everywhere he went people kept talking about it to him.

His parents told him they were incredibly proud and they were sure he'd do great, but that only made him more nervous and he had never felt more pressure upon him.

Hermione, who had become their friend immediately after the troll incident, had been invaluable, helping him catch up on all the homework he was behind on, with so much quidditch practise.

As it happened, Hermione had become more relaxed and she was much nicer for it.

On the evening before his quidditch match, Harry sat at the dinner table with Ron, Hermione and Neville. He saw his uncle walking through the hall on his way up to the teachers' table.

"Professor Black is limping," Hermione pointed out – something which Harry had instantly noticed and frowned about. He wondered what had happened to his uncle, and hoped he was ok.

"Strange," Harry noted.

Ron looked uncomfortable as he shifted in his seat and Harry raised his eyebrows at him, sure he friend was avoiding his eyes. Finally Ron said, "The other night … before the troll … the stairs we saw him go up before we fought the troll … they lead to the third floor."

Harry narrowed his eyes, "Ron, what are you saying?"

"Just … you know … third floor, out of bounds corridor, three headed dog," he said, voice low.

Neville shook his head, "Ron are you saying …?"

"Ron," Harry frowned, "if you're suggesting that he went up to the third floor where the dog is, and the dog hurt his leg ..."

"I don't know," Ron said, "I'm just saying … seems like a funny thing to do, going up to the third floor when everyone else was looking for the troll, doesn't it?"

Harry frowned, "Stop it. He's my uncle, remember? He's good, even if he _does _sometimes favour the Slytherins a bit. He wouldn't be trying to get past the dog and steal whatever it's guarding. He wouldn't. "

Ron didn't bring it up again, and Harry was sure he was taking huge leaps in his logic – it was a huge leap to assume that just because Regulus had hurt his leg and been seen going to somewhere on the third floor, he'd gone to _that_ corridor and been hurt by the dog. And even if he had, he could have been going up there to check on something, on Dumbledore's orders maybe.

The subject wasn't mentioned at all for the remainder of the evening and soon it was the next morning and they were all back at the table eating breakfast.

Harry had to be encouraged to eat by Hermione, Ron and Neville, who all thought that he should really eat to keep his strength up. Seamus helpfully added that he needed to eat because seekers were the ones who got knocked around the most.

* * *

Meanwhile at Potter Manor, Maia wrapped herself in her warmest cloak to desperately protect herself again the chilly November weather, and beside her Sirius handed James a short list in messy handwriting, and Remus tried to offer him some money.

"Moony it's fine," James insisted, "not while you're between jobs."

"Prongs-"

"Not at all," James replied quickly, "we have this argument almost every week. No."

James and Maia were going into the village to buy shopping for the week, and given the amounts of money James, Sirius and Maia had between them, they were far too generous to allow Remus to spend what little money he had on the weekly food shop. Since they all cooked together and ate together almost every night, their food shop was communal, apart from a few specific requests from each person, but they would not take money that Remus didn't have from him.

"At least let me give you a few sickles to pick up some wine for later on," Remus insisted, "last time she was here, Nymphadora wanted to try some of that strawberry wine from Booth's that we were talking about. Maybe you could pick up a couple of bottles for us for later."

"She'd hex you into next week if she heard you calling her that," Maia pointed out, grinning broadly.

Tonks had become a fun part of their lives and she was due to come around for a catch up that afternoon. Catch ups with Tonks always included a drink. The woman was becoming like a little sister or a niece to Maia and she loved hearing all her stories about the silly things James and Sirius did at work. She was so similar to a young Sirius and Maia and the whole house adored her.

Maia always had a little theory about she and Remus, though she was yet to disclose it to anyone.

"Don't bother getting me anything to drink," Sirius grinned, "I've got that date tonight so I probably won't be coming home."

Maia rolled her eyes, "I don't want to know about your sex life."

Sirius snorted, "That's rich – I _live_ with yours."

"Hey!" James protested, "can we just _not?"_

"So who's the lucky lady this time?" Remus asked Sirius.

Sirius pouted at him, "Moony do I detect a hint of sarcasm in your voice? You wound me. And for your information, it's Amelia Runcorn. She's in International Co-operation. They say she speaks 17 languages."

Maia was sure that wasn't why he was going out with her and sighed. She wished he'd meet someone nice and settle down.

"Well I hope something comes of this one," Maia replied, fastening her scarf around her neck, "will you tell Lyra to tidy up her room before we get home. I've been telling for days."

Maia was well aware that Remus would end up magically cleaning and tidying Lyra's room for her as always.

As she and James left the house and started to walk to the village, James held out his hand and Maia smiled, threading her fingers through his and smiling. Her hands were freezing but his were large and warm.

"Remus and Tonks seem to get on well," Maia noted.

"I suppose they do," James agreed.

"I think she's quite keen on him, you know," Maia continued.

James did a double take as he looked at her, "_What_?"

"Hey, I've got eyes," Maia replied, shrugging, "I just think she seems to … _light up _around him."

James snorted, "That's ridiculous. She's 18, and he's 31! And Tonks is always like that – bright, smiling, _confident_. I think she's just the same around him as she is everyone else."

Maia bit her lip, "I suppose you _do_ work with her every day, so you know her better."

"I'm telling you, Tonks is like that with everyone," James told her, "she's just being friendly."

"Moony seems … different around her too. He gets on well with her, and he barely knows her. And sometimes I think he stumbles over his words and … _blushes."_

"Moony's just shy around people he doesn't really know," James pointed out, "but he gets on with her because it's _impossible_ not to get on with Tonks. I don't think there's anything to this."

"If you say so," Maia agreed.

He was probably right, she decided. Tonks was just friendly, but she couldn't help but think they'd be a nice couple, even if they were a bit unlikely. Tonks was wild and Remus was reserved and shy, despite having a mischievous streak running through him. They were very different but Maia could see it working. In fact, she thought they'd be lovely together, and it would be nice to see Remus with someone who could bring him out of himself a bit and accept him for who he was.

"It's Harry's match today," James said suddenly, drawing her out of her thoughts.

"I know," Maia grinned, "he's going to be amazing, isn't he?"

James beamed, "Our baby boy, tearing up the quidditch pitch and being a star. Our boy, youngest seeker in as long as anyone can remember, playing his first match! He'll be incredible, I know it."

"I really wish we could see him," Maia sighed, "remember the rush of being out on that pitch? The crowds roaring, the sea of gold and red going crazy, the sheer joy of getting one through the hoop, everyone going crazy afterwards." She sighed again, smiling, "he'll love it."

"I still think parents should be allowed to go watch the games," James replied, noticing her shudder against the cold and wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. He wished he could cast a heating charm for her, but they were going to pass muggles in the village and the glow the charm gave off was too obvious.

"Me too," Maia agreed, "but I can sort of understand. It _would_ get a bit hectic if they constantly had parents up at the school."

"But I want to see our boy," James whined, "I bet people will talk about this for years – I can just see it now. It's even worse that Regulus gets to watch the whole thing. "

"He'll provide a very detailed account, I imagine," Maia said, feeling insanely jealous of her younger brother. "The governors get to go, you know, so maybe we should be school governors."

James scoffed, "Can you _imagine_? Me, a school governor? I think I was a bit better known for causing trouble at school."

"You were Head Boy at school and now you're the ministry's head auror," Maia scoffed, "I know you think you're a rebel but you're a bit more responsible than you think you are."

"I am a still a rebel," James said, "I used my powers as Head Boy to make sure we Marauders didn't get caught in our pranks, and to aid us in sneaking out. And being head auror makes me the head dark wizard fighter, which is the _coolest_ job in the world. I suppose I _could_ go and watch the match disguised as a stag, but there would still be the issue of getting through the school gates."

"And you're registered," Maia pointed out, "if you think Dumbledore wouldn't notice you, you're crazy."

Despite becoming illegal animagi at the age of 15, Sirius and James had eventually been forced to register themselves with the ministry. They'd debated doing it when they trained as aurors but didn't get around to it until after Peter's betrayal of them and Voldemort's attack. It had been necessary to inform them that Peter was an animagus to ensure that he couldn't escape through the bars of his prison cell, and there seemed to be no way of doing so without admitting that they were also animagi. They did not tell the ministry why they'd done it and given the circumstances, nobody pressed them for any details and there were no consequences for what they'd done – Dumbledore had made sure of that.

"I want to see him _so_ much," Maia sighed wistfully.

"He'll win," James said firmly, "our boy will be _amazing_."

* * *

At eleven o'clock Harry stood in the changing rooms draped in his new scarlet quidditch robes and feeling extremely nervous. All of his friends' reassurances and the memory of his parents letter the day before, expressing similar reassurances, couldn't even calm him.

He tried to picture his parents standing here over ten years ago and thought of all the pictures he'd seen of them and Sirius, as taken by Remus. Pictures of them whizzing around in the air, and best of all, pictures of them celebrating the win of the coveted quidditch cup, everyone jumping up and down and hugging. Maybe one day that would be him.

They walked onto the pitch to loud cheers and met the referee, Madam Hooch, in the middle of the pitch. She warned them all to have a good clean game and Harry noted that she seemed to be speaking to the Slytherin captain, Marcus Flint, more than anyone else.

Harry felt his confidence grow when he noticed his friends standing together with a huge banner of a lion and his name, that Dean had drawn and Hermione had enchanted to move.

At Madam Hooch's command they all kicked off into the air and the balls were released.

Lee Jordan, the Weasley twin' friend, was commentating and he got told off for being biased in the first five seconds, by McGonagall who was sitting beside him, and it was for saying how attractive chaser Angelina Johnson was.

Harry couldn't see the snitch at first and he mainly concentrated on listening to the commentary and watching the game, as the chasers flew around quickly passing the quaffle between them, an the beaters darted about protecting their teams.

Whilst gliding around looking for the snitch, Harry noticed Hagrid standing in the Gryffindor stands and smiled. The man had become a good friend of theirs, and he, Ron, Hermione and Neville had been down a few times to have tea with him.

It was a while before Harry saw the snitch but he was very much enjoying being in the air and experiencing the game. He'd never felt a rush like this in his life and he didn't want it to be over but he wanted to win so badly.

Suddenly, he saw it.

Lee Jordan mentioned the snitch and he saw the streak of gold far below him. The Slytherin seeker Terence Higgs saw it at the same time and they raced towards it, the crowds roaring.

Harry was neck and neck with Higgs and around them all the Chasers had stopped to watch the game, except Flint who appeared out of nowhere to block Harry on purpose, forcing him to spin off course, holding onto his broom for dear life.

The Gryffindor stands roared with rage and up in the teachers' stand Regulus narrowed his eyes – Merlin knew he loved quidditch and he wanted his house to win but it was _not _acceptable to assault his nephew.

Lee Jordan struggled to not take sides and was berated by Professor McGonagall several times as he tried to commentate without calling the Slytherin captain a rude name. Harry recovered quickly and Alicia Spinnet scored a perfect goal from the penalty they got for the foul.

Moments later Harry's broom have a sudden, terrified lurch. Harry gripped the broom tightly with both hands and knees and tried not to look down. He'd never felt anything like that before and it happened again.

His broomstick should not be doing this, he was sure, and he tried to turn it back to the goal posts so he could talk to Wood and get him to call time out, but the broom was not responding at all. He couldn't turn or direct it and it was zig-zagging through the air, making such violent movements that he was sure he was going to fall off it, and with so muhc going on, he wasn't sure if anyone had noticed. Was he going to die here? He _couldn't. _

Eventually people started to notice and all over the stands they were pointing at him, just as his broom started to roll and he could only just stay on.

The entire crowd gasped as the broom gave its most violent jerk yet and Harry found himself dangling from the broom, holding on with only one hand.

What was he supposed to do now? He couldn't do this, he was going to fall, he was going to die.

In the Gryffindor stands, his friends stared in terror.

"Dark magic," Hagrid said, voice shaking, "can't nothing interfere with a broomstick like that except powerful dark magic, you mark my words."

Hermione frowned and grasped Hagrid's binoculars, looking through the crowds. If it was powerful magic, that meant only an adult wizard could cause it and all the adult were in the same stand. Hermione scanned the whole teachers' stand, eyes sweeping over the governors and staff. Dumbleore was in the middle, looking very worried and muttering frantically to Flitwick on his left. Two seats down from Flitwick was Professor Black, whose eyes were fixed on Harry and whose lips were muttering something nonstop.

Hermione stared. He couldn't be doing dark magic – he was a teacher and he was Harry's uncle. He must be doing something to save him surely. But save him from what? She couldn't see anyone else doing any magic.

In the air the Weasley twins had flown to either side of Harry and were trying to pull him safely onto one of their brooms but it was no good – every time they got near him, the broom jumped up higher and higher.

Hermione couldn't believe that Professor Black could be doing something bad but she couldn't see anyone else doing any dark magic and if Black was doing a counter curse, it wasn't helping.

Deciding there was nothing for it, Hermione ran from the stands and towards the teachers' stand. No-one saw her since all attentions were on Harry in the air and Hermione desperately fought to get to Professor Black, knocking over Professor Quirrell in the process.

Reaching the professor she wanted, she crouched down behind him, pulled out her wand and whispered a few well chosen words. Blue flames shot from the end of her wand an onto the hem of his robes and Hermione waited, feeling incredibly guilty. Thirty seconds later, the man let out a yelp, realising he was on fire, and Hermione knew her job was done and fled from the stand.

Up in the air, Harry was suddenly able to climb back onto his broom.

"Neville, it's fine! He's ok!" Ron exclaimed, patting his friend on the back. Neville had been crying into Hagrid's jacket for the last five minutes, sure he was going to lose his best friend and godbrother.

Harry had never felt more lucky and he sped towards the ground.

The crowd watched him clap his hand to his mouth as if he was going to be sick and he groaned as he hit the pitch on all fours coughing violently.

A second later, he spat the snitch into one hand and held it up, screaming, "I've got the snitch!"

The game ended in confusion but despite Flint's protests, it was clear that Gryffindor had won. After being pulled into a congratulatory hug by the rest of the team, the students started to spill onto the pitch.

"Hagrid's invited us back to his hut," Neville told Harry, patting his arm clumsily.

Harry was very grateful for this. He'd definitely appreciate a good cup of tea now and the reassuring surroundings of Hagrid's cosy hut.

He slipped away from the crowds and back to the changing rooms, where he found his uncle leaning against the changing room doors, arms folded over his chest and his eyebrows raised.

"Quite a game, kid," he drawled.

Harry nodded breathlessly, not sure what on earth had happened out there but just very grateful that he was back on the ground now.

"You're alright?" Regulus asked, pushing himself off the changing room doors and stepping forwards. He reached out and put his hands on his nephew's shoulders and looked him up and down.

"I'm fine," Harry replied, "I-I'm fine."

Regulus nodded and pulled Harry forwards by his shoulders, wrapping his arms around him and hugging him briefly. Harry raised his arms to hug him back, a little bemused. His uncle had always clearly cared about him but he wasn't usually very affectionate.

"What's the smell?" Harry frowned, sniffing.

Regulus shook his head as he let go of him, "Some sort of accident in the teachers' stands. The bottom of my cloak got burnt. Never mind that."

Harry nodded, accepting this, "So what happened to me out there?"

"I'll get to the bottom of it," Regulus replied.

Harry nodded, "Mum's going to flip out when she's hears about this."

Regulus snorted at the thought of his elder sister and nodded, "You're her son, of course she's going to worry. I don't know if it's even a good idea to tell her."

Harry stared at him, "You think we should … not tell her? But … so many people saw that. Surely she'll hear about it somehow. Surely the school has to tell my parents if someone tries to kill me in the middle of a quidditch match?"

"No-one is going to kill you," Regulus said firmly, "but if your mother hears about this, she'll _certainly_ think somebody is trying to kill you. She's a mum and she's a bit crazy. She'll come here and take you home if she thinks you're in danger. Best not to tell her."

Harry wasn't sure if it was the best plan but he trusted his uncle. "But … Uncle, why did my broom do that?"

"Don't worry about it," Regulus told him, "it won't be happening again."

Harry nodded, feeling enough faith in his uncle, and feeling slightly better. As the shock of what had happened to him started to fade, the joy of winning his first ever quidditch match started to take over him.

"You should get changed, kid," Regulus said, "no doubt Gryffindor house will want to celebrate. And I suppose I should offer congratulations on your win, which of course goes against every instinct I have as head of Slytherin house so don't tell any of my own that I said that."

Harry nodded, "Yeah. Thanks."

Regulus nodded, "Enjoy the rest of your weekend and don't worry about all of this. I'll give my love to your parents tomorrow, shall I?"

When Harry joined the other's in Hagrid's hut, Hagrid provided him with a very welcome mug of tea and Ron was keen to fill Harry in on what had happened, despite the awkwardness of Professor Black being the one they suspected.

"Harry, I'm sorry," he said, "but it was Black. It was your uncle. We saw him. He was muttering, wouldn't take his eyes off you. He was doing a curse."

"Don't be stupid," Harry said instantly, "he's _family. _He just came to check on me in the changing rooms. He _hugged_ me and believe me, he's not usually the hugging type."

"I agree," Hagrid said firmly, "rubbish. Why would Professor Black try to kill his own nephew? I can't believe you'd say somethin' so stupid."

The children exchanged looks, before Hermione answered, "Well, we did see him going up to the third floor on the night that the troll was let him. Ron thinks he tried to get past the three-headed dog and steal whatever it's guarding."

Hagrid dropped his teapot and Harry was so distracted by this that he forgot how furious he was with his friends for just suggesting that his uncle was capable of killing someone, let alone that he'd want to kill his own nephew.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" Hagrid demanded.

"_Fluffy_?" Neville repeated.

"Yea, he's mine," Hagrid replied, "bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year and I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"

He broke off sharply and refused to say anymore.

"But Black's trying to steal it," Ron whined.

"Nonsense," Hagrid said firmly, "Professor Black is a Hogwarts teacher, respectable man, and he's Harry's uncle. He was not trying to kill anyone or steal anything'."

"I know a jinx when I see one," Hermione interjected, "I've read all about them! I'm sorry Harry, but he wasn't blinking at all!"

A moment of silence followed, before Harry suggested, "Couldn't he have been doing a counter-jinx? Trying to rescue me? He's my family, he wouldn't try to hurt me. And as for trying to get past the three-headed dog, maybe he was just going to check on whatever's under there. Maybe he's trying to protect me, and whatever is being hidden."

Silence followed again.

"I suppose it _could_ have been the counter-jinx," Hermione said eventually, flushing very pink, "I … I'm sorry. I just didn't see anyone else casting a spell -"

"You could have missed them," Harry pointed out, "it's a big stadium." He simply refused to believe that his uncle would be trying to harm him and it was all so ridiculous that he wouldn't even dream of going to him to ask what was really going on. It was be the height of dishonour, he thought, to mistrust his family.

Uncle Regulus was bound to have his reasons for what he was doing. He must be protecting things, Harry thought, but if that was the case, then that meant someone else was trying to steal the thing so he was still curious to find out more.

"If Black's not up to anything," Ron conceded, "then someone is. Why would anyone want to get past that dog? And if Black didn't jinx it, then who did?"

"Right!" Hagrid interrupted loudly and suddenly, "I don't know what happened to Harry's broom but we can all agree that Professor Black wouldn' try an' kill Harry, can't we? In fact he'll have been tryin' to protect him! And you listen to me, all four of yeh – yer meddlin' in things that don't concern yeh. It's dangerous. What that dog's guardin' is between Professor Dumbledore and Nicholas Flamel -"

"Aha!" Harry shouted, "so there's someone called Nicholas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid was furious with himself.

On their walk back up the castle, the four of them wracked their brains for any Nicholas Flamel they had ever heard of but no-one could think of anything and the conversation soon fell back into whether of not Harry's uncle was doing anything wrong.

Harry refused to hear a word against him, and eventually Ron and Hermione agreed that he man could have been doing a counter-jinx, and on Hallowe'en night, been doing some sort of official protecting business. Neville had never really agreed that his friend's uncle was at fault in the first place, and they all agreed to not accuse Harry's relatives of such things again.

Hermione daren't tell Harry that she'd set his uncle on fire whilst trying to help, and so far he hadn't asked about how the jinx had been stopped so maybe he wouldn't have to find out, she thought.

Harry resolved to write home, knowing how proud his parents would be and how desperate they'd be to know how it had gone.

* * *

At Potter Manor, news of the quidditch match arrived at around 7pm.

Maia, James, Tonks, Remus and Lyra were sitting around the kitchen table eating the dessert that Tonks had provided – her mother's best pumpkin pie – when there was a tapping at the window.

"Look, it's Hedwig!" Lyra pointed, spotting her brother's owl.

"The match!" James shouted, getting to his feet and almost knocking over his chair as he rushed to the window. Maia followed him, dropping her fork onto her plate and Tonks stared at the pair of them, quite sure that she'd never seen anyone rush for an owl so quickly.

Remus caught the expression on her face and chuckled, "They've always been crazy about quidditch. You get used to it."

James quickly unfastened the owl from Hedwig's leg whilst Maia stroked her wing gently. Lyra had also risen from her seat and searched for the family owl's treats. Lyra began to stroke Hedwig and feed her a treat from her hand and James triumphantly waved the letter in the air.

"It's from Harry!"

"Of _course _it is," Maia sighed impatiently, making a swipe for the envelope, "_open_ it."

Tonks couldn't help but watch the couple, utterly bemused. She'd never seen how crazy they were over quidditch or over letters from their son and they were utterly hilarious, grown adults fighting over an envelope.

James ripped open the letter and held it so Maia could read it at the same time.

_Dear Mum, Dad, Lyra, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Moony,_

_We won! The match was great, it lasted about an hour and I didn't have anything to do for a while because she snitch is so hard to see. The Slytherin team are all very big and mean looking, and they play dirty, but we beat them by 170 points to 60. I accidentally caught the snitch in my mouth, which Wood says is a first!_

_We went to Hagrid's for a bit afterwards and now there is a party starting in the common room. The Weasley twins have managed to bring in lots of food. Percy doesn't approve. Wood says we've got a real chance of winning the cup back from Slytherin this year, so I think Uncle Regulus won't be very happy if that happens. _

_Everything else is going well. Hope you are all ok,_

_Love, Harry. _

"Well?" Remus asked, though he hardly need ask because as soon as they were done with the letter, James let out a yell of triumph and threw his arms around Maia.

He lifted her off her feet and they celebrated just as wildly as when they were winning their own quidditch matches.

"He won! He did it!" James roared, spinning around on the spot, his strong arms around Maia's waist as he span her around. Maia laughed uncontrollably as James seemed to move faster and faster.

"He did it!" Maia laughed, her hands on James shoulders and holding on firmly, "Jamie, James put me _down, _I'm so dizzy!"

James did as he was told, planting her back on her feet but keeping hold of her, arms on her waist to steady her as she was so dizzy. He planted a kiss on her forehead and beamed extremely wide.

"Our baby won his first quidditch match!" Maia grinned, looking over her shoulder at Remus and Tonks, who were both smiling, "_our_ boy, James. I knew he'd be amazing!"

James grinned too as Maia slipped out of his hold to go and pull Lyra into a hug that she hadn't asked for but had fully expected and returned happily. Her mum and dad were full of such energy that it was impossible not to get caught up in it all.

"I want to go to Hogwarts, Mum," Lyra pouted, as James did a strange victory dance around the kitchen and then thrust the letter into Remus' hands.

"In a couple of years sweetie," Maia told her, brushing the 9 year old's dark curly hair out of her face and tucking some of it behind her ear.

"He must be good," Tonks commented, still amused by all the commotion that this was causing.

"He's the _best_," James said, "Padfoot is going to be _so _mad that he missed the letter!"

"He'll find out soon enough," Remus replied calmly.

"Yeah but we knew first," James grinned, grabbing hold of Lyra as she tried to sit down and finish her pumpkin pie, and hugging her tightly.

"Daddy, it's just not fair," Lyra mumbled against his robes as he hugged her, one hand cradling the back of her head like she was still a baby. She only called him Daddy when she wanted something or was upset.

"You can go to Hogwarts in two years, angel," James assured her with a smile, "and when you do, we'll fuss over your letters just as much as Harry's, and you'll do amazing things too."

"Shall we have another drink?" Maia suggested, flicking her wand towards a cupboard and producing the bottle of strawberry wine that they'd gotten in town that morning, "this seems like something to celebrate."

When the wine reached the table, she flicked her wand again and the bottle magically filled up the glasses of the four adults at the table.

"Lyra sweetie, there's drinks in the fridge for you, if you want something. Tonks, Remus bought this wine for us, you know. He knew you wanted to try some after we talked about it that time."

Tonks grew Remus a cheeky grin, "Ah he's so thoughtful, isn't he?"

"Come on, raise your glasses," James commanded, "our boy won a quidditch match today, so clearly he's as talented as his father-"

"_And mother!"_

"Yes, I suppose so," James sighed, receiving a slap on the arm for his words, "Lyra, get yourself something from the fridge, if you want, go on."

"Uncle Regulus is going to be mad that his team didn't win," Lyra noted as she went over to find herself something.

"Don't you worry about your uncle," Maia replied, "he'll be fine. And if he's not, we'll hear all about it at dinner tomorrow."

"I think _I'd_ like to be a beater," Lyra said when she sat down again.

"First one in the family then," James told his daughter with a grin – he and Maia had been chasers, and Sirius and Regulus had been seekers, which had always been entertaining and confusing when Gryffindor played Slytherin.

"I don't know if I like the idea of you being responsible for the bludgers," Maia told her daughter.

"Ah, she can handle herself, can't you angel?" James pointed out.

Remus grinned at his god-daughter, "I think I'd be more worried about the bludgers."

The rest of November was fairly routine. None of Harry's letters home contained any trace of him getting into trouble, he seemed to be getting on well enough in his lessons and he had firm friends in Ron and Hermione, as well as Neville.

Sirius' date with Amelia Runcorn turned into a second date, and then a third, but never went any further and no-one was surprised. Sirius seemed happy enough with it and deflected attention from himself by insisting that they should find someone to set Remus up with.

When the issue was pushed, Remus had angrily retorted that he was _not_ a teenager going on a blind date. He was poor and dangerous. Maia told him he was ridiculous – he was _not_ poor. He home schooled Lyra and they paid him for it, and as for dangerous - he was just moody once a month and his transformations took place nowhere near Maia and her children. Instead, Sirius, Remus and James went to the house Sirius and Remus had lived in a long time ago and Sirius still owned. Remus was not to be swayed and refused the idea of being set up. He was _far_ too hard on himself, Maia thought.

They continued to see Tonks regularly. She came over once a week, most weeks, and she was becoming a part of their little family.

By the time December arrived, Maia was very much looking forward to seeing her son again.

"Maybe he'll want to stay at school for the holidays," Regulus told her with a smirk over one sunday dinner.

Maia glared at him so hard that he very much regretted trying to make the joke, "Why would you even say something like that?! Of _course _he wants to come home."

"O-of course," Regulus nodded, "I was … just joking."

Hogwarts was a magical place at Christmas, Maia had heard, but she'd never experienced it for herself. In her first year at Hogwarts, she and Sirius had been desperate not to go home – sure that their parents were furious with them for being Gryffindors, and not what they were suppose to be. As it was, their parents had demanded that they go home, clearly hoping that if they got hold of them young enough, they'd be able to stamp the Gryffindor out of them.

Their parents had demanded them home for every Christmas, determined that their children would take part in the family's annual Christmas party, which all their horrid pureblood friends attended, hoping that eventually they'd come around to the "right way of thinking."

By the time 5th year came around, the twins had caused enough trouble at the pureblood gatherings, for their parents to have given up demanding their presence, and they spent the next Christmases at the Potters house.

"You'll be joining us for Christmas dinner?" Maia asked her brother moments later, in such a tone that he knew he was being told, rather than asked.

Regulus smirked at her, "Of course, dearest sister. Where _else_ would I be?"

"_Last year_, you stayed up at the school," Maia pointed out, "we weren't good enough for you _last year."_

Sirius chuckled, "Last year Reggie had a _girlfriend_ up at the school to spend Christmas dinner with."

"True," Maia teased, "a girlfriend to pull crackers with, and kiss under the mistletoe, whilst Dumbledore and McGonagall sat opposite them."

"Shut up," Regulus replied, flushing furiously, and wishing that his siblings didn't have the ability to rile them up.

Last year the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor had been a pretty French witch who usually taught the subject at Beauxbatons, but had fancied taking a break and coming to England for while, and been put in touch with Dumbledore by the Beauxbatons headmistress. Regulus had taken a liking to her and they'd dated for a couple of months but it didn't last and got messy, and when another job offer came up at the end of the year, they both agreed that it would be best if she took it.

"Think we've hit a nerve," Maia teased, sticking her tongue out at her brother.

Remus and James exchanged looks – ever since the twins and Regulus got back on good terms, he'd fit right in with them and they were always teasing each other. Regulus was always getting ganged up on like a little brother, despite only being one year younger than the twins.

Regulus sighed heavily, stabbing one of his potatoes with his fork a little more violently than was strictly necessary, but then he smiled up at her from across the table, "Dearest sister, I will join you for Christmas dinner and I will even provide pudding."

A couple of days later, Maia's first words of the day to her husband were, "Is it too early to put up the Christmas decorations?"

"It's the third of December," James replied, rolling over in the bed to face her.

"That's not an answer," Maia told him, propping herself up on one elbow and leaning away from him when he tried to kiss her good morning, causing him to whine.

"You can decorate the house whenever you like," James told her, "I don't have an opinion on whether we get festive today, or tomorrow, or the day after that, as long as he can hang plenty of mistletoe."

"As you wish," Maia replied, giving in as he shuffled closer to her and leaning in to meet his lips.

The house was decorated on the fifth of December and the festivities were led by Sirius and Maia, but the whole house joined in. Sirius practically danced around the house singing carols at the top of his voice and wearing tinsel and fairy lights around him like necklaces, whilst looking for somewhere to hang them.

Lyra and Maia decorated the Christmas tree, Lyra hanging baubles wherever she fancied and Maia enthusiastically sending them flying up to the tallest branches with her wand. Remus was tasked with decorating the mantlepiece and was casting complicated little spells on everything for maximum effect, whilst James searched for appropriate places to leave mistletoe.

"When's Harry home, Mum?" Lyra asked as she hung a big gold bauble on one of the lower branches.

"Two weeks today," Maia replied.

"Good."

Maia suddenly frowned at her daughter, who was wearing a suspicious smirk, "What are you planning, Ly?"

"Nothing Mum," she said quickly.

Maia rolled her eyes, "I grew up with your Uncle Sirius so there's _nothing_ you can get past me. If you've got an elaborate prank planned for your brother, I might be all for it, but just have a think about whether I'm going to be mad about it first."

"Of course Mum," Lyra replied, "I wouldn't _dream _of doing anything else."

The next day, Harry's latest letter arrived. It detailed his week – nothing too out of the ordinary was happening but it was always good to hear as much as possible about what he was doing.

The last few lines of his letter mentioned that Professor McGonagall would be coming around that week to take the names of people who were staying for Christmas. He said that Hermione was going away for the holiday with her parents but Ron's parents were going to Romania to visit one of his brothers, so Ron, Percy and the twins were staying at the school.

"It's a shame for Ron to be at the school all by himself over Christmas," Maia frowned.

"His brothers will be there," James replied, pushing his glasses further up his nose and scanning Harry's letter again.

"Yeah but his best friends … Neville, Harry and Hermione … all off with their families and Ron in that dorm all by himself …"

James suddenly felt like he was talking to his own mother, almost twenty years ago, and he smiled at his wife without needing to hear the end of her sentence, "By all means tell Harry to invite the boy, if you like."

"Really?"

"Sure, the more the merrier, it'd be nice to meet one of Harry's friends" James replied, and just like that the Potters had resolved to have Ron Weasley over for Christmas, and he was invited in their reply to their son.

* * *

The reply was received the next morning at breakfast and Harry smiled when he saw Hedwig carrying the letter.

He, Ron, Hermione and Neville had just been discussing Nicholas Flamel - ever since Hagrid mentioned him, they'd been trying to find out who he was. So far their search had been unsuccessful. For the most part, Neville wanted to stay out of it, but he was loyal and would do anything Harry was doing. Harry was incredibly curious, and Ron and Hermione were no better.

Hermione had just finished lamenting that they hadn't found anything about Flamel in _Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, _or _Notable Magical Names of Our Time, _or even _Important Modern Magical Discoveries, _when Harry looked up at Ron with excitement.

"Ron, my parents have invited you to stay with us for Christmas!" he exclaimed.

Ron's initial reaction was shock but then he grinned, "Really?"

"Really," Harry confirmed, scanning the letter again, "Mum says she'd thought you'd like to stay at ours since your parents will be in Romania. She says to let her know soon, and she's happy to write to your mum, if your mum wants."

"Harry that's … brilliant!" Ron grinned, "it's … yeah, that'd be great."

Ron had always thought that Harry's family sounded very fun. Mr Potter's job at the ministry sounded much cooler than his own dad's, Harry's uncles sounded fun, and they even had a quidditch pitch in the grounds of their house! Fred and George would be so jealous.

"What are you doing for Christmas, Neville?" Hermione asked him, as Ron and Harry began to babble about how brilliant it would be, and Harry told Ron that he could join in all the pranks and games his parents and uncles liked to play. "Will you be going to Harry's?"

Neville shook his head, "No, Gran will want me home. She misses me a lot, I think. Her and my Great Aunt Enid will be making the dinner. It's sort of quiet."

"You'll come round to visit though," Harry pointed out.

Neville was never allowed to go to Harry's house on Christmas day, as his Gran wanted all her family together, and they went to St Mungo's to visit his parents for a bit then stayed at home, but he was bound to be at the house quite a bit besides Christmas day. After all, he always slept at the Potters for two nights a week anyway.

"Will Professor Black be coming around for dinner?" Ron asked suddenly, staring up at the teacher's table.

Although there had been no more talk about Harry's uncle being linked to what had happened to his broom or him being after whatever Fluffy was guarding, Ron still wasn't sure that he liked Professor Black. He didn't especially dislike him but it was difficult not to feel a little intimidated by the tall, imposing looking man, who rarely smiled and who was a stern teacher. Potions was proving to be a difficult subject and Professor Black swept around the dungeons, looking into their cauldrons and only praising the truly exceptional. The best that could be said for him was that he was at least fair – although he clearly liked his house, he criticised them in class as equally as he did the Gryffindors, and best of all, none of Malfoy's attempts to suck up to him ever worked.

"I expect so," Harry replied, also glancing up at his uncle.

He didn't actually see his uncle much outside lessons but when they passed in the corridors, he'd have a smile and a nod for him, and sometimes took him aside to ask him how he was doing and check up on him.

Ron nodded, thinking how strange it would be to spend Christmas day with Harry's family, one of whom was his Potions professor.

"Don't worry, it'll be great!" Harry insisted, "My uncles are crazy about wizard's chess – they'll be a much better match for you than I am!"

Eventually the conversation drifted back to Nicholas Flamel. They'd been through hundreds of books trying to find his name in the hopes of trying to figure out what as happening.

There was a mysterious object being hidden in the castle and it was impossible for Harry not to be curious about it, especially because something was clearly going on – someone had jinxed his broom and let a troll into the castle as a diversion, causing Regulus to have to go and check on the stone on Hallowe'en. It all indicated that someone was going to try and steal the whatever was being hidden!

The school library was huge though and they'd spent days in there trying to find the name. Hermione was being very strategic about it, whilst Ron and Neville pulled books off the shelves at random and Harry kept thinking about the restricted section.

He'd been shooed away from the entrance to it by Madam Pince, the librarian, when he got anywhere near it. You needed a note from a teacher to get in there, and it seemed unlikely.

"You could try asking Professor Black for a note?" Hermione suggested, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

Harry shook his head, "No way. He'd ask why we wanted to go in there, and he _knows _when people are lying. Lyra and I have got a theory that he can read minds."

Maia was pleased to hear that Ron had accepted their invitation to stay with them over Christmas and she got his parents' address from him and wrote to his mother. She assured Molly and Arthur Weasley that Ron was very welcome to say with them, and James also mentioned it to Arthur when he happened to see him at the ministry. Molly thanked her profusely, telling her she'd heard plenty about Harry from her son, and she'd be sure to send over a nice present for Harry, and make sure all of Ron's got sent over too. Maia assured her in her reply that there was no need to thank her – she'd love to have any friend of Harry's around, it was no bother at all.

Two days before they were due to come home for the Christmas holidays, Ron, Neville and Harry sat in their dormitory, each of them packing their trunks to go home.

As Harry stuffed some of his clothes into his trunk, he grabbed a fistful of his inherited invisibility cloak and froze. _The cloak. _Why hadn't he thought about it before?

The invisibility cloak hadn't seen much action yet at the school. It had been a source of amazement for Ron and Hermione when he'd shown it to them. Neville of course had always known about it.

Harry's dad had warned him not to get into too much trouble with it – though from the stories Harry had heard, his parents and uncles were always in trouble because of it in their day. Still, so far he'd been true to his word, and except for entertaining his friends in the dormitory by disappearing for a bit (but only when Dean and Seamus weren't around, but the cloak needed to be secret), he'd yet to sneak out of the dorms with it.

But with an invisibility cloak, he could get into the restricted section!

That night, Harry resolved to sneak out and go to the restricted section. He considered whether he would take his friends but felt like just this time, the first time he used the cloak, he wanted to take the adventure by himself.

He'd used it with his dad before of course. The cloak had been the source of endless games when they were children, but this was different. This time he was by himself and it was all his.

Confident that everyone else was asleep, Harry wrapped the cloak around himself, covering himself up fully, and crept out of the dorm, down the stairs and out of the common room. The Fat Lady squawked when she was swung open, unable to see who was there, but he hurried away.

Once in the library, he lit a lamp. The library was eerie and pitch black and he crept along keeping the cloak held tight around him with one hand and holding onto the lamp with the other.

The restricted section was right at the back and it was easy enough to get there when invisible and without the librarian hanging around. The titles of the books didn't tell him much and many of them had peeling, faded gold letters in languages he couldn't understand. Some of them even seemed to be whispering.

A large black volume caught his eye and he heaved it from the shelf with difficulty, having to set the lamp down so he didn't drop it. He let the book fall open and it let out a blood-curdling shriek that ruined the perfect silence of the library.

Harry snapped the book shut, his heart racing and he stumbled back, knocking over the lamp and putting it out as it fell. He could hear footsteps coming down the corridor and keeping the cloak pulled tight around him, he ran.

He'd be in so much trouble for this, he thought, his heart jumping as he passed Filch in the doorway. Filch looked straight through him, as Harry knew that he would, and he streaked off up the corridor but came to a sudden halt in front of a tall suit of armour.

He had no idea where he was and he felt the blood drain from his face when Filch said, "Ah, I thought you were on duty tonight, Professor. There's a student out of bed. Restricted section."

"Restricted section?" replied the all too familiar voice of his uncle, "well, they can't be far. Come Filch."

He couldn't get caught out of bed by his uncle, Harry thought. His mum would hear about it and then he'd be in trouble, and he couldn't do that to her – she'd be mad, and he didn't want to make her mad. He adored his mum.

Harry moved as quickly as he could and searched for a way out. Eventually he found a doorway and hurtled into the room, closing the door behind him and hoping that he wouldn't be found.

As he tried to calm himself down, he eventually started to take in his surroundings. It looked like a disused classroom but propped up on the far wall was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, and a fancy inscription in a language that he didn't recognise.

Panic fading, he moved towards it.

Shock filled him when he stepped up to the mirror and found that what was reflected back was _not _him standing here in this room. Instead, he was wearing his quidditch robes with the captain's badge pinned to his chest – he was quidditch captain in his reflection! - and he was standing on the pitch, waving the snitch in the air.

But in the mirror, Harry holding the snitch was only a _small_ part of the whole mirror. Far more prominent were his parents, who were standing side by side clapping wildly and beaming at him as wide as was possible. Lyra stood in front of them, also cheering and smiling at him. On one side of them was Sirius and Remus, and on the other was Regulus. Behind them was a grey haired wizard who looked very much like his dad, and a tiny plump grey haired witch stood beside him – his grandparents?

All of them looked so impossibly _proud_ of him, smiling, laughing, cheering, as he waved the snitch in triumph. Harry felt overwhelmingly happy and somehow he _knew _that it wasn't about the quidditch or the winning – it was about how happy and proud his family were.

Eventually he tore his eyes away from the mirror and he knew it was time to go back to bed before he got caught.

Ron was furious and Neville was sad the next morning when Harry told them what had happened. Both were eager to see the mirror, though Neville expressed panic about sneaking out at night. He was eventually convinced however – if Ron and Harry were going out, he wanted to to, and he wanted to see the magic mirror.

Sneaking out proved to be more difficult with three of them under the cloak and they moved slowly. Neville had to be constantly reminded to be quiet and he almost tripped Ron up four times.

When they reached the room, Harry pointed at the mirror as he pulled the cloak off them, "My mum and dad, and the rest of my family – they're all in the mirror!"

"I can't see anything," Ron said.

They argued about it for several moments but eventually Ron could see something – but not what Harry could see. Ron told them that he could see himself wearing the headboy and quidditch captain badges, and holding the house cup and the quidditch cup.

Neville was very quiet. He could see his parents, but he didn't feel like telling his friends that. In the mirror his mother and father stood on either side of him, looking incredibly happy and then they were talking to him – they were _well. _He noticed Harry glancing at him sideways and quickly blinked away the tears that were forming, but thankfully Ron was too excited to notice.

"Do you think this mirror shows the future?" Ron asked.

Harry almost thought that it might, but not when he focused on his grandparents, the ones who'd sacrificed themselves for him. They were gone – it couldn't be the future.

Neville was the one to reply, "No," he said thickly, sniffing up.

The three of them stared at the mirror and Harry looked at the faces of his parents and the rest of his family. He'd be seeing them tomorrow and he missed them so much, but why were they in this mirror? What was going on?

"Are we sure it's not the future?" Ron frowned, reaching out to rest a hand on the mirror, "It looks like it _could _be."

"Back again, Harry," said a voice from behind them.

The three boys wheeled around at the sound of their headmaster and they stared when they found themselves face to face with the man. Well, now they in trouble – what was he going to say? What would he do to them? He had to have been watching them the whole time and they hadn't even seen him.

At his side, Neville whimpered and Ron cleared his throat, awkwardly shuffling from one foot to the other. Harry was the one to speak, "We – er – didn't see you there, sir."

"Strange how short-sighted being being invisible can make one," Dumbledore said, smiling at the three boys, which instantly made them feel relieved. "I see you have discovered the Mirror of Erised."

"So that's what it's called," mumbled Ron.

"I expect you've realised by now what it does?" Dumbledore asked.

The boys exchanged looks of confusion. Harry tried, "It shows me my family, I suppose."

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, but it showed different things to you Mr Weasley, and to you, Mr Longbottom?"

Both boys nodded and Harry regarded the old man carefully, feeling more relaxed now he realised that they weren't going to be in trouble. Harry was just thinking that it was a wonder that they hadn't seen Dumbledore and he must have been there the whole time.

As if sensing his thoughts, Dumbledore told him, "I don't need a cloak to become invisible."

"You know about the cloak?" Harry asked quickly.

Dumbledore chuckled, his eyes twinkling, "Your father was very fond of sneaking out in his day. Now, I should tell you – this mirror shows us all nothing more or less than our deepest desires. You Harry, see your family proud and accepting, because after all the pressure the wizarding world has put on you, all you desire is to make them proud. Men have wasted away before this mirror, driven mad by things that are not possible."

His eyes rested on Neville now, who shuffled under his gaze and did not meet his eyes.

Dumbledore continued, "The mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow , and I suggest that none of you go looking for it. You have seen what the mirror does, and it has no more attraction for you, but if you do come across it, you will be prepared. Now, why don't you put on that very admirable cloak, and all go to bed?"

"Yes sir," Ron said quickly, to which Harry and Neville agreed quickly.

As they made their way back to Gryffindor tower, the boys thought themselves very lucky to have been caught by the headmaster and not disciplined at all, and each of them went to bed thinking about what they had seen in the mirror.

The next morning, it was time to go home for Christmas and everyone was very excited at breakfast. The main conversation amongst Ron, Harry, Hermione and Neville was Nicholas Flamel.

"It's a shame you didn't get time to check out the restricted section properly," Hermione said.

"We have a library at home," Harry offered, "I could have a look in there."

"I'll keep thinking too," Hermione said, "do you think it will be too suspicious to ask someone at home? Surely between your parents and your uncles-?"

"It might be too suspicious," Harry replied, "Uncle Regulus is out of the question. Mum would see right through me too. I could maybe ask Uncle Remus. I just don't know what to say if they ask why I want to know. I'll have a think."

"It's probably safe to ask your parents, right?" Ron asked Hermione.

Hermione scoffed, "Very safe as they're both dentists."

* * *

In the build up to the Christmas holidays, Potter Manor was alive with the festive spirit.

Maia reverted to wearing her brightest robes, often trimmed with gold or red, and the sheer excitement of not just Christmas approaching but getting to see her son soon, meant that she was constantly smiling.

Sirius, ever a fan of singing, was constantly singing Christmas carols an sweeping up whoever was nearest to him in a silly dance. Remus kept getting swept up into a waltz, much to his chagrin.

Lyra kept talking about all the things she was going to ask Harry about when he got home – she wanted to know everything about Hogwarts, and between Harry and Neville, she was determined to hear every single thing about the school. She was also incredibly excited about Christmas day and the thought of the presents she might receive.

James was being a nuisance and he kept finding excuses to stop Maia for a conversation in doorways where he'd hung mistletoe, then pretending he hasn't realised it was there, and using it as an excuse to kiss her – not that he needed an excuse.

Remus was incredibly unimpressed with the mistletoe because he had been caught underneath it a few times with Sirius, quite by accident, both of them were adamant, but Sirius was always happy to press a sloppy kiss to his friend's cheek.

"One more sleep!" James announced the evening before Harry was due to come home, shutting the bedroom door behind them and watching his wife reach for the buttons down the front of her work robes.

"I know," Maia beamed, "is everything ready? I think the bedrooms are ready for the boys. I've put Ron in the spareroom next to Harry's – might as well have his own room since there's space, but they'll probably end up spending all their time sleeping in the same room anyway – just like you and Sirius always did. Do you think everything's ready? I feel like I've probably forgotten something, but I've got all of Harry's favourite foods in and-"

"_Relax_," James said, unfastening the buttons on his cuffs and raising his eyebrows at her.

Maia nodded, "I'm just excited. Can you believe that we haven't seen our boy in three months? I just want to cuddle him and fuss over him and get to see him all the time, you know?"

"I know," James agreed, starting to shrug off his outer robes and watching his wife unfasten a few more buttons until her outer robes were completely unfastened and billowing open.

"I hope Ron will like it here," Maia continued, hardly noticing as James started to move towards her, "but if we can be anywhere near as welcoming to him as your mum and dad were to me, then we can't go wrong."

"The boy'll love it," James replied, letting his outer robes fall to the floor.

"I want to hug him so much," Maia sighed, kicking her shoes off and not caring when they ended up underneath the bed.

"Ron?"

"_Harry."_

"Ah, of course," James nodded, taking a step forward, his shirt hanging open now, fully unbuttoned. He reached out and pushed Maia's open outer robes off her shoulders, making them pool around her feet, and then rested his hands on her hips, drawing her in closer.

"It'll be nice to have the house a little fuller," James said, keeping his hands on her hips as he leaned down and kissed her jaw, just below her ear, making her shiver a little. He smirked – he loved that she was ticklish.

Maia smirked slightly at his words and rested her hands on his chest, "We're not talking about Ronald Weasley, are we?" she asked, tipping her head back a little as he kissed her neck.

"No," James replied, stopping his ministrations so he could draw back to look into her eyes. His hands slid up from her hips to her waist and then he trailed his fingers up her stomach and chest until he reached the top button of her shirt.

He unfastened the top button of her shirt and Maia's eyes were fixed on his hands as she said, "Well, _go on_ then. You want to say something."

James was making short work of her shirt and he didn't reply until he'd unfastened it all, at which point he finally met her eyes, his hands drifting back down to rest on her hips, pulling her a little closer to him.

"Did you think any more about …?"

He trailed off but his meaning was clear – he was talking about having a baby. They hadn't really discussed it since James brought it up on their break about two months ago. He'd been trying to give her some time to think but wasn't sure what was the appropriate amount of time to wait before discussing this again – with Harry and Lyra, things had just ... happened. This was very different.

"Jamie I need to think some more," Maia replied, hoping his reaction to the answer would be ok.

James nodded, though he looked a little disappointed. He tried to cover up his disappointment by nodding and leaning in to claim a kiss from her, bringing one hand up to her shoulders to try and push her unbuttoned shirt away. It fell to the floor to leave her in just her bra on top, though she still wore her skirt.

"How much longer?" he asked, not sounding pushy but genuinely curious as his hands roamed around her body, skimming over her waist and coming up to rest on her back.

"I don't know," she replied honestly.

He nodded, "C'mon, love. Another little baby, another little one for our family. Maybe another little mini-Maia," he suggested, leaning in again to start kissing his way along her jawline as he unhooked her bra.

"It _does_ sound good," Maia replied as she imagined it.

She was rewarded by a sudden hard kiss to the lips as James cupped her face in both hands and kissed her soundly, his mouth moving perfectly with hers, and his hips pressing into hers.

Maia responded eagerly, letting her hands wander across his body. She had to admit that she appreciated the fact that his job required him to stay in shape and she moaned as he deepened the kiss. He moved his hands down to her waist and started to steer her towards their bed. The backs of her legs hit the bed frame and she tumbled down onto it, pulling James with her.

James was careful to land beside her and hung above her as he brushed her hair away from her neck and started to press a kiss to exactly the right point on her neck, as one hand drifted to her skirt.

"I'm glad you're starting to come around," James told her.

As he reached for his belt buckle, Maia mumbled, "You _are _aware that I haven't agreed to anything yet. It's a big commitment."

"I know," James replied, " and that's fine. I can be very patient."

"Good," Maia replied, tracing one of his biceps with an index finger and biting her lip as she looked up at him.

James smirked down at her, "_But_ … it doesn't mean we can't practise, does it?"


	8. Home for Christmas

**Note: Thank you for all your reviews! Your opinions and suggestions are always very welcome. Apologies for the delay in chapters – my final university exams have been very hectic but hopefully I should have a lot more free time now it's summer. **

**I had meant to do all the Christmas holiday in this chapter but since it's been so long since I updated, I've split it in half so you could have a chapter sooner.**

* * *

Chapter Eight

James woke up the next morning to a light sensation across his arm. Without opening his eyes, he frowned as the sensation moved over his bicep, before he realised it was his wife's touch. She was running her fingers up his arm and across to his chest now and his lips twitched into a smirk.

"Are you trying to wake me up, darling wife?"

Her hand froze for a second, "Of course not."

"Mmm," James replied sleepily. She didn't sound anywhere near as innocent as she clearly hoped. He slowly opened his eyes and turned to look at her. His eyesight might be terrible without his glasses but she was very close and he met her striking grey eyes, "you look mischievous," he told her.

"Don't be silly," Maia replied, lips curving into a smirk as she propped herself up on one elbow and lay on her side facing him, "I'm _never_ mischievous."

James raised his eyebrows, reaching over to grab his glasses from the bedside table and slipping them on before he rolled over towards his wife. Much better – he could see her properly now, eyes shining, hair wonderfully tangled, and he reached out to rest a hand on her bare hip, pulling her slightly closer.

"Never? Do you not remember our words?" he asked teasingly, leaning in until his lips were very close.

"Mischief managed," Maia mumbled, her eyes flicking down to his lips.

James closed the tiny distance between them, pressing his lips to hers and kissing her slowly and deeply. He broke apart slightly sooner than Maia would have liked and grinned at her when she pouted about it.

"Mischief managed," he repeated, moving his hand from her hip to the curve of her waist, shuffling closer still.

"I wish we still had the map," Maia sighed wistfully, thinking of the thing they had spent so much time creating in their school days. The magic and skill that they had poured into it, all the time it had taken to complete, and how much fun they'd had using it, only for it to be eventually confiscated.

"Me too," James grinned, "I'm sure Harry could have had a lot of fun with it."

Maia frowned at the thought, "Actually, maybe it's a good job we don't have it to give to him. The boy gets in enough trouble as it is, what with fighting mountain trolls and all."

"That was _once_," James said lightly, though he sounded very distracted, causing Maia to narrow her eyes at him – it was not a laughing matter – but she was soon smiling when James leaned in again and pressed a kiss to her jaw, just below her ear.

"You know, you look very fetching like this," James told her, his voice low and his lips pressed to her skin.

"Like what?" Maia asked, giggling as he touched a particularly ticklish spot on her waist.

James replied by beginning to kiss his way along her jaw, "Curled up next to me in bed, _strangely _missing your clothes, hair all tousled, sparkly eyed-"

"Sparkly eyed?" Maia repeated as her husband leant over her, somehow manoeuvring them both so she was now on her back instead of her side, and he was hovering over her, "what're you _talking_ about? You're so -"

James cut her off by leaning down to kiss her, and Maia soon forgot what she'd been saying as she ran a hand through his hair, making it look even worse than it already had.

His hands began to wander and when he gripped her hips and pulled her closer, lips working at her neck, Maia tipped her head back and grasped his arms.

"Y-you know I still haven't agreed to another one overnight, right?" she said, stumbling over her words as she remembered all of husband's hopes about a 3rd child.

His hands stopped moving and he stopped his ministrations on her neck to meet her eyes, "I know."

Maia nodded, suddenly feeling rather vulnerable, and James had apparently picked up on this as he moved a hand to her face and cupped her cheek gently, "Love, I told you, I can be patient. I'm not trying to rush you into a decision. Take all the time you need. I just want to kiss you."

Maia smiled, instantly feeling more relaxed, and she reached up to cover his hand with her own and nodded wordlessly.

Some time later, Maia was curled up with her head on James' chest and she sighed contentedly, "We should get up," she said, "our boy is coming home today."

"The train doesn't get in for hours, and this is so comfy," James countered, running a hand through her dark hair.

"I know but I want breakfast," Maia replied.

"We could summon it."

"We'd have to cook it," Maia pointed out, patting his chest and starting to sit up. James whined and Maia smiled at him, "come on, I'll do bacon and stuff. Surely you'll get out of bed for bacon?"

Maia showered quickly and pulled on some of her favourite robes – a bold scarlet colour. When she was a child her mother had constantly tried to force her into green and it was so strongly associated with Slytherin, and the horrid house was covered in so much green that she'd kept strictly away from emerald green since, despite the fact that it would actually have looked rather good with her pale skin, grey eyes and dark hair.

James came into the kitchen a few minutes after her and called a good morning to Remus, who was reading the paper at the table, and Maia didn't bother turning to look at him but was unsurprised when he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, leaning down to rest his chin on her shoulder.

"Hello," he mumbled, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

Maia smiled at him, "Stop getting in my way."

"Is that any way to speak to your husband?" James asked, a teasing grin on his face as he nevertheless let go of her and went to sit at the table, where she'd left him a mug of tea.

"Are you coming to the station Moony?" James asked, sinking into a chair and sipping his tea in appreciation.

Remus nodded, "As long as you and Maia don't mind."

"Why would we mind?" Maia smiled, glancing over her shoulder, "picking our boy up from his first term at Hogwarts – we should all be there."

"I can't believe we haven't seen in him three months," Sirius said as he strolled into the room, clearly having overheard the rest of their conversation on his way into the room. Behind him came Lyra, who was still dressed in her pajamas with her hair tangled and messy.

"Can I come to the train station?" she asked eagerly.

"Of course angel," James grinned, opening his arms as his daughter walked over to him and embracing her, pulling her onto his knee and pressing a kiss into her hair.

Maia smiled at the pair of them – Merlin knew her daughter was a little daddy's girl, and she'd sometimes felt jealous of it but they were very sweet together and she could never mind _really_.

"What do you want for breakfast, sweetie?" Maia asked, smiling at her 9 year old.

"Whatever you're having will be fine," Sirius smirked, pulling out a chair and sitting beside Remus, and flicking his wand towards the kettle to boil it.

Maia rolled her eyes, "I was _talking_ to my _daughter._"

Sirius grinned at his niece who grinned back, always amused by the teasing between her parents and uncles. Looking at her mum, she replied, "What are you having Mum?"

"Dad and I are having bacon, sausage, eggs and toast. Dad's having tomatoes too, and I suppose I'll do the same for Uncle Sirius since he asked so politely," she added pointedly.

"A bacon sandwich please Mum," Lyra said.

Maia smiled and got on with making breakfast as the family chatted away. As usual, Lyra was in the middle of the conversation, never able to keep quiet and often dominating the conversation as much as Sirius did which was quite an achievement.

"What time does the train come in, Dad?" Lyra asked when breakfast was ready and Maia sent the plates of food flying towards them.

"3pm," James replied promptly, picking up his knife and fork and smiling at Maia, "thanks."

"Does that mean Neville can come for tea tonight?" Lyra pressed.

Maia shook her head, "Not tonight. You'll see him at the train station but I'm sure his gran will want him to spend time with him tonight. He's having tea with us _tomorrow_."

Lyra nodded. Her brother's best friend was quite quiet but Lyra liked annoying him and Harry when they were playing together, much to Harry's annoyance, and he was always nice to her. She was also intrigued by Harry's new friend who would be coming to stay – although she was still at an age where boys were silly and she would only be interested long enough to annoy them until she got bored.

"Now, while everyone's together," Maia said, cutting up a sausage, "I should maybe remind you all that Harry's friend is coming to stay."

"We _know," _Sirius said, "are you about to remind us all to behave ourselves?"

"_Yes_," Maia said firmly, looking at her brother, "we have an eleven year old who we don't know well coming to stay with us, so no horrid pranks – let's keep it clean."

"Ronald Weasley has five older brothers," Remus pointed out with a slight smirk, "I would think he's used to pranks."

"I'm not saying we have to be completely sensible," Maia replied, "but I'd rather we didn't scare the poor boy half to death, have him never come back, and have to answer to his mother."

"Noted," James nodded, "we'll be on our best behaviour."

"And no talk of werewolves," Maia reminded her daughter.

Lyra was the only person who seemed confused by this statement. The adults around the table were old and wise enough to know exactly how werewolves were perceived by the community. As much as it pained them all, and they all thought it unfair, they all knew that it was wise not to make a fuss about it.

"Why?" Lyra asked.

Maia bit her lip – her children had grown up knowing what their uncle was so it didn't seem strange to them, but Remus had once gently told them that other people didn't like werewolves. Still, Lyra couldn't understand. Maia wasn't sure how to answer, and Remus took over quickly.

"Not everyone likes werewolves, Ly," Remus answered with a strained smile.

Lyra shrugged, "Well they're sillly. Harry's friend won't care what you are – we don't."

"I wish everyone felt like you did pup but it's easier this way," Remus replied, looking at his god-daughter with such an expression that she knew better than to argue, though his tone was gentle.

Lyra looked like she was going to argue but Remus raised his eyebrows at her and she said nothing more. Maia was always amazed at her friend's ability to make Lyra listen to him and the conversation seemed to have ended there.

Sirius had to be reminded several times more not to conspire with Lyra to pull any mean pranks on Harry's friend, and not to scare him by suddenly by sneaking up on him as a big black dog.

There was much talk of everyone behaving themselves and by the time they had finished their breakfast, Sirius had finally agreed to behave himself.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon were filled with excitement at the thought of Harry coming home until it was time to go to the train station. Maia had checked that the boys bedrooms were ready several times, checked the kitchen cupboards for all of Harry's favourite foods and James had to almost pull her from the kitchen, insisting that everything was fine.

They travelled to the train station in a car borrowed from the ministry – there had never been any need to have a car, since the floo network usually always sufficed but with Harry going off to school and having so much luggage, it wasn't practical to floo to King's Cross. Maia had told James it was time they bought a car and James was excited at the prospect.

Lyra didn't stop talking for the whole car journey, telling her parents and uncles all the things she wanted to know about Hogwarts from Harry. Sirius ruffled her hair and pointed out that they could tell her everything but Lyra said she knew that and wanted to hear all of Harry's stories too.

Maia couldn't contain her excitement at seeing her first born after such a long time and she couldn't recall ever smiling so widely for so long. She adored Christmas and having all her family back together was more exciting than she could ever say.

When they got to King's Cross – Maia having had to remind James several times to drive slower – James parked the car in the very busy car park, spotting at least one other ministry car nearby, and they all made their way towards platform nine and three quarters.

When they got to the barrier between platforms nine and ten, Maia couldn't help but smile even wider to herself. She'd never get tired of stepping through the barrier onto the platform, surrounded by unsuspecting muggles, and then seeing all the excitement of people going to Hogwarts.

Her own parents had never greeted she and Sirius on the platform with love, and they'd clearly never missed them. She'd always strived to be nothing at all like her parents and she felt like she did a very good job – she couldn't love her children more and she showered them with affection.

"Ready, Ly?" she asked her daughter, who looked nervous, just as she had when they dropped Harry off in September, and Maia could understand – running into a brick wall was very daunting, after all.

Lyra nodded wordlessly and Maia smiled fondly, holding out her hand, "Come on, let's go."

Lyra took hold of her hand, still looking a little unsure, and on her other side James took hold of her free hand, giving it a squeeze. Together Maia and James started to stride towards the barrier, tugging Lyra along with them, who had to do a little jog. Sirius and Remus followed them and the next moment they were all standing on the platform.

The train hadn't arrived yet but the platform was quite busy and Maia wasn't surprised – she knew very few people stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays and remembered when her parents had finally given up demanding her presence for the Christmas holiday, and she'd been met by James' loving parents.

They found somewhere to stand halfway down the platform and as Lyra began to ask when the train was coming in, Maia took the opportunity to look up and down the platform, taking in the sights.

Families were all waiting with excitement for their children, all wrapped up warm against the cold, and all chatting away animatedly.

Maia tried to see if she could recognise anyone and saw a couple of faces she knew from school – Jimmy Spinnet, who'd been on their quidditch team and who they'd seen at the station in September, was standing quite far away with his wife. Mark Chang, who had also been in their year at school, was standing on the other side of the platform and Maia hoped he didn't see them and try to come over and talk. James and Sirius had never been fond of him – whether it was because he was on the Ravenclaw quidditch team or because he'd been an arrogant prat (as if her boys themselves hadn't at the time), Maia didn't know. She couldn't see Augusta Longbottom anywhere, but she must be around somewhere.

Next her eyes fell on a tall thin couple, both with silvery blonde hair, who both stood with expressions of disgust on their face – though that was probably the permanent look on their faces, knowing them.

Maia turned to her brother, who stood beside her, and saw that he was already looking in their direction.

"Malfoys," Maia mumbled.

"I hope they don't come over here," Sirius said, eyes narrowed.

"Me too," Maia replied, eyes also narrowed.

"They think they're better than us," Sirius replied.

"Don't look at them," she replied, "our boy is coming home and nothing is going to stop me being in a good mood."

"Well said," Remus replied, patting Sirius on the arm and encouraging him to turn his back on them so he wasn't looked in their direction, "now Lyra, what time is the train coming in?"

Lyra, having just been told this by her father, promptly replied, "Twelve minutes."

The twelve minutes seemed to pass very slowly, and Maia was dying for the steam engine to pull into the station and to see her son jump off and run towards them. She was mostly quiet, eyes fixed on the tracks, but everyone else was being noisy enough, laughing and joking.

Suddenly she felt James' hand on her shoulder, his thumb rubbing at the nape of her neck, and she jumped slightly, looking over her shoulder and up at him. He was smiling gently while Lyra was in conversation with her uncles.

"Ok?" he mouthed.

Maia smiled at him – he was certainly good at knowing how she was feeling and trying to adapt to her needs. She reached up to cover his hand with hers, interlocking their fingers and moving their joined hands down so they hung between them. She was inexplicably anxious, as well as excited, and she couldn't quite say why.

When the train started to come into view there was a flurry of excitement on the platform. Younger siblings, who were dying to go themselves, tugged on their parents hands and some ran down the platform to try and get a better look.

"It's here! It's _here!_" Lyra squealed, jumping up and down and tugging on her godfather's robes as he was standing closest, "Oh I'd love to be on that train!"

Remus grinned at her enthusiasm, "One day pup."

The train slowed to a halt and Maia scanned the windows of the carriages she could see from where they were. Some students were pressed against the windows looking for their families, others were stood up gathering their things.

When the doors to the train opened, Maia grinned broadly and only James' hand holding her own stopped her from running towards the train to get to her boy. She willed herself to behave sensibly and watched as the first few students stepped down from the train and some scanned the platform for their families but others had seen them from the train and were running towards them.

Maia was vaguely aware that she was clutching James' hand tighter as more and more people got off the train and she continued to scan for Harry.

Eventually he appeared at one of the carriage doors and jumped down onto the platform. Behind him was Neville, who almost fell as he stepped onto the platform clutching his toad. Behind Neville came a girl with big busy hair and a gangly boy with bright ginger hair – Hermione and Ron, she knew, given the stories she'd heard from Harry.

"There he is!" Sirius announced, poking Maia in the arm and pointing across the platform.

"I know," she beamed, watching as Harry put his trunk down on the concrete platform and started to look around. Hermione seemed to have spotted her parents and hurried away, and Neville started to move too, and Maia saw that his gran was walking towards him, wearing that awful stuffed vulture hat.

"Harry!" Lyra shouted, waving at him and starting to push her way forwards. Remus caught onto the back of her cloak and followed her, trying not to lose her in the crowd. Maia saw Harry looked up at the shout and his face lit up as he saw him family.

Then they were all moving towards each other and several seconds later, Maia was standing in front of her son and no-one was going to get to hug her boy before _she_ was.

"Harry," she beamed, reaching out and wrapping her arms around him. She pulled him in for a hug and held him close, rocking them both from side to side. Harry hugged her back tightly and Maia smiled – he was more of a Mummy's boy than Lyra was a Mummy's girl.

She could tell that Harry was ready to break away from the hug before she was ready to let go of him but couldn't resist keeping hold of him slightly longer, giving him a final squeeze and then pulling away but leaving her hands on his shoulders so she could observe him.

She looked him up and down – he looked healthy and happy. She'd worried about him not eating properly and not looking after himself, but it was silly come to think of it, with all the food Hogwarts had on offer, and since she knew he was so happy in his letters.

Satisfied that he was alright, she leaned down and kissed his cheek, "Oh sweetie we've missed you so much. It's _so_ good to see you. How are you – you're alright?"

Harry's cheeks flushed red, clearly slightly embarrassed at all the fussing in front of his friend, and he nodded up at her, excited to see his mother nonetheless, "I'm good Mum, I'm alright."

Maia beamed, tempted to swoop down and pull him in for another hug but at her side, she felt James shifting and knew that he was restraining himself from greeting their son heartily.

She watched happily as James embraced his son warmly – she was hardly aware of anyone else and was extremely happy to watch her husband and first born child reunited and so happy with each other. Maia found herself wrapped an arm around Lyra's shoulders and pulling her close too, more happy than she'd ever imagined to be back with her whole family.

"Good to see you, son," James beamed when he finally let go of him, "and this must be Ron?" he added, gesturing towards the gangly redhead at Harry's side.

Maia had to admit that she'd almost forgotten about the boy since she was focusing on her son so much and she felt a little guilty but the boy looked sort of amused and a little in awe. She wondered what Harry had told him about them all but supposed that meeting your new friend's family, especially when your friend was the Boy Who Lived, was bound to be an experience. James, as Head Auror, was perhaps particularly intimidating to the eleven year old.

Harry nodded quickly, gesturing from his dad to his friend, "Yeah, erm, this is Ron. Ron, this is my dad-"

James stuck out his hand and Ron shook it hesitantly, staring up at the man and trying not to gape. James was simply amused and grinned at the boy.

"And this is my Mum-"

Maia smiled at the boy warmly, thinking that Harry's letters had made them sound like such good friends, and she hoped that they'd all be in for a fun Christmas, and the boy would be happy with them.

Ron tried and failed not to stare as he was introduced to her and managed a nod – meeting new people was never his strong suit. He couldn't help but think that Mr and Mrs Potter looked so cool. They were younger than his mum and dad, and he knew Mr Potter had a cool job, being in charge of all the dark wizard catchers. Mr Potter was tall but smiled and he seemed nice enough. Mrs Potter wasn't his usual image of a mother – _his_ mother was short and squat, always dressed in mismatched, messy clothes, with her hair all messy, but Mrs Potter was elegant and put together, and _pretty._ Still, she seemed just as warm to her son as his mother was.

Harry continued, "And these are my uncles, erm-" he hesitated, not sure what Ron should call his uncles.

"Sirius Black," Sirius cut in, holding out his hand, looking just as amused as the boy stared up at him, almost intimidated.

"Remus Lupin," Remus added quickly, also shaking his hand as Sirius took the opportunity to embrace Harry, wrapping his arms around him and pulling him in for a hug just a rib-cracking as both James and Maia had done, babbling about how good it was to see him again.

"And this is Harry's sister, Lyra," James finished, as Harry was clearly too occupied with his uncle, and then pulling into a hug my his honorary uncle.

Ron nodded at the girl, not really sure what to do. Lyra gave him a small smile in return but stuck close to her parents.

Maia smiled at Ron, trying to resist the urge to pull Harry in for another hug and asked them both, " Now boys, how was your journey?"

Harry had just been released from an affectionate hug by Remus and he and Ron exchanged looks, both shrugging a little. "It was ok," Harry replied.

"Did you buy anything nice off the trolley?" she continued cheerily, as James reached out to take Harry's trunk from the ground with ease, leaving only Hedwig in her cage beside him.

"Chocolate frogs," Harry replied, "but we didn't get a good card."

Ron nodded, "We just got a Merlin – got tons of him already."

"Ah, me too," Remus nodded. The others all smirked – chocolate was a great favourite with Remus too.

"Harry did you meet Peeves?" Lyra asked eagerly, "is he as fun as Daddy said?"

Ron groaned and Harry grimaced, shaking his head, "Peeves is the worst! He's always throwing things at us, and he's always trying to make us get lost."

"Peeves can be very helpful sometimes," Sirius replied, grinning like a cheeky school boy.

"And Harry did you meet Nearly Headless Nick?" Lyra asked eagerly, "_how _headless is he _exactly_? Because I know Uncle Padfoot said -"

"_Very_ nearly headless."

"And-"

Lyra's third question was cut off by James, who chuckled and nudged her, "Ly, your brother just got off the train. There's plenty of time to ask the boys all this when they've had time to go home and get settled."

Lyra nodded, looking reluctant,but her smile brightened when James wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and promised her that there was plenty of time to listen to all the stories, once they'd gotten away from the busy train station.

As they thought about leaving, Remus pointed across the platform, "Maia I think I see Augusta over there – we should go and say hello before they leave."

"Of course," replied Maia.

"I want to see Neville!" Lyra agreed.

Augusta Longbottom was a formidable woman, but nothing was going to stop Maia from seeing her godson, and Remus – the boys' godfather, agreed. Augusta was fussing over Nevillle when they approached, and Neville looked very red-faced. Maia rolled her eyes, hoping that the woman wasn't embarrassing the boy. She was overly critical and it wasn't what he needed.

As they walked over, Maia walked close to her son and asked him again if he was alright, if he was looking after himself, eating properly, having fun at school, how the journey was, and a million other questions, hardly giving him time to reply. Ron was highly amused.

"Neville!" Lyra shouted when they got close.

Neville looked very grateful at the distraction from his grandmother's nagging, and his round face lit up when he saw the family that might not actually be related to him, but had always treated him like family.

"Hello Lyra," he said, giving her a smile.

"Ah, Mr and Mrs Potter … Mr Black …. Mr Lupin," Augusta said, nodding approvingly in their direction as the family stopped in front of Neville and his grandmother. Although she never quite saw eye to eye with Maia, she had always respected James, Maia, Sirius, and Remus to a slightly lesser extent. There was no denying that they were good people, Frank and Alice's friends, and respectable – two aurors and a healer amongst them, not to mention two godparents to her grandson.

"Augusta," Sirius beamed first, throwing her a very flirty wink, "how are you this fine day?"

"Very glad to have Neville back home," Mrs Longbottom replied, "I worry about him up at the school where I can't keep an eye on him. Honestly, the things he could get up to …"

After they all said hello and greeted Mrs Longbottom, Sirius seemed to be bearing the brunt of her conversation, and Maia tuned them all out, turning to her godson.

"Neville, sweetie how are you?"

Neville smiled, seeming a little more confident out from his grandmother's thumb, whilst Sirius kept Augusta occupied. He nodded, "Good … erm, yeah, good."

Maia smiled broadly, "That's good to hear – now, come here." With that, she reached out and pulled him in for a hug with just as much warmth and affection as she'd given to Harry. Neville hugged her back happily, feeling a very different warmth from his grandmother's more strict, but still loving, style.

They didn't stay talking for long – Augusta was keen to get home, so Neville said goodbye to the three other children, then to the adults.

Remus was the last to say goodbye and he patted his godson's shoulder, "We'll see you tomorrow, Neville. We'll pick you up at about 4, don't forget your toothbrush this time."

As they began to walk back to the car, Maia smirked and nudged Remus, "You'd be a wonderful father, you know."

Remus rolled his eyes at her, corners of his mouth twitching, "If you're thinking about trying to set me up, don't bother. I don't need it."

Maia shrugged, also smirking as she thought of a certain feisty metamorphagus, but she gave up on the thought for now and soon turned her attention to her son, who was chatting happily to Ron and James, whilst Lyra was hand in hand with Sirius.

James smiled at his wife, taking hold of her hand happily, as Harry told them all about his latest quidditch practise. They passed the Malfoys on the way out, and Maia saw them in her peripheral vision but was so happy with her husband and her children, and didn't even spare them a glance.

Harry was extremely happy to be home for the holidays.

He hadn't realised how much he'd missed his home until he was was back here. Life at Hogwarts was so busy and he'd been having so much fun that he hadn't stopped to think about all the wonderful things he missed from home. He'd forgotten just how nice it was so feel his mother's hugs, to see his dad's grin, to hear his uncles teasing each other, and Lyra joining in and wanting to know all about Hogwarts, and even his mother's cat curling around his legs and trying to trip him up.

He showed Ron all around the house and Ron followed him around in awe of almost every room in the house. He told Harry that his own house wasn't nearly as big, and Harry's house had so many nice things. Ron was jealous that Harry had never had to share a bedroom or fight over the bathroom, that his bedroom was so big, and most especially that he had a fully sized quidditch pitch in his garden. Harry shrugged off all of the comments, saying he was sure that Ron's house was great too.

Ron expressed surprise at the fact that there wasn't a house-elf, but Harry shrugged that off too. He knew his dad had once had a house-elf when he was younger but when it died, his parents were retired, and with James off at school, had lots of time to take care of things themselves.

James had broached the subject with Maia when they all first moved into the house – they were busy, had a child and another on the way, and could benefit from the extra help. Maia hadn't felt the need as long as they all chipped in and helped around the house. She'd hated her parents' house-elf and been terrified as a child by the heads of her families old elves mounted onto the wall.

When her mother died, no long after Lyra was born, Sirius inherited the house-elf and Grimmauld Place.

Sirius had immediately ordered the elf to serve Regulus, at which the elf was thrilled – he'd always adored "Master Regulus" anyway. Regulus had accepted the house-elf into his service at the school and as far as Maia knew now, the elf worked with all the others.

Mrs Black died unloved by all three of her children. She'd never formally disowned Regulus and he was still speaking to her when he was a death eater, then less frequently when he became a double agent.

Finally, he'd been to visit her only days after Voldemort's attack on baby Harry. He'd somehow expected her to have finally realised how wrong the Black family had been about it all. He'd expected her to realise how close she'd come to losing her daughter and a grandchild she'd never met, and be grateful her daughter wasn't dead, but instead she'd lit a cigarette, shrugged, and said she'd heard the news. Her traitorous daughter's spawn had killed the Dark Lord. She warned Regulus to stay away from his sister – she was trouble, nothing more – and after an argument about their values, Regulus stormed out and never saw her again. She died six months later.

As for Grimmauld Place, Sirius had tried to give that to Regulus too, but Regulus denied him, and since Sirius had no desire to move into it, it sat there empty.

As Maia heard her son leading his friend past the kitchen, where she was checking on the evening's dinner, she smiled as she heard Ron gushing over the quidditch posts. He certainly wouldn't have been saying that about Grimmauld Place – no-one would gush over Grimmauld Place.

She'd never even let James go there. After her mother died, she, Sirius and Regulus went back to the house. Maia and Sirius didn't want anything from that house, but Regulus had wanted a few things and they'd gone along with him out of moral support – Maia had strictly forbidden James from coming, insisting that he should stay at home with Harry and their new baby.

"Mum, are you coming to play quidditch?" Harry asked, coming back and standing in the doorway, with Ron beside him, looking a little nervous.

Maia smiled at them both, "Have you taken your things to your room and unpacked them?"

Harry nodded, "Dad helped. He wants to play quidditch too."

Maia nodded – James would have sent everything flying to its rightful place with one flick of his wand. "In that case, of course I will. Did you ask your uncles and your sister?"

Harry nodded, watching Maia flick her wand at the oven, and continuing, "Uncle Sirius and Lyra said yes but Uncle Moony says no because he'll make the numbers uneven, if you're playing. He says he'll watch."

Maia nodded, expecting as much. Remus had always liked to watch them play quidditch but wasn't a confident flier and wasn't even bothered about joining in. "Right, let's go then."

At Harry's side, Ron looked a little embarrassed, "I don't have a broomstick … I mean, I have one at home but I don't have it at school so I .. erm … don't have it here."

Maia waved his comment off as she left the kitchen and started to walk towards the gardens, the boys following behind her, "Well now, that's not a problem. We've got a couple of spares in the broom cupboard. There's a Nimbus 1700 – it was Harry's before he got the 2000. It's not quite as _fast_ of course, but -"

"It's great," Ron grinned, cheeks flushing, "I've only got an old Shooting Star at home."

"Nothing wrong with that," Sirius chipped in, appearing behind them and making Ron jump, though Harry and Maia were unfazed, "I won the 1976 house cup on a Shooting Star."

"_Really_?" Ron asked in awe.

Maia rolled her eyes at her brother, "_You_ didn't win the house cup."

"Well the team did, and I was _on_ the team," Sirius replied.

"Yes so-"

"Fine, when _we _won the house cup in 1976, I was riding a Shooting Star," Sirius countered.

"I was on a Cleansweep," James called out, as by now they were approaching the broom cupboard, where Lyra and James stood, pulling out their brooms, "and again in '77 … _and _in '78."

"Stop showing off," Maia told him, narrowing her eyes.

James threw her a wink,"Oh c'mon, it's good to have someone new to tell the stories to. Here you go Ron, why don't you take Harry's old Nimbus 1700? Ly, here's yours, angel. Padfoot-"

Sirius caught the broom that James' threw at him and Maia caught hers too.

"Teams then?" Sirius asked.

Everyone hesitated as they tried to decide what was best – how did quidditch work with three people on each team? They debated whether they would have a seeker, whether there would be bludgers, how many chasers each, and in the end settled on two chasers and a keeper on each side, to start with.

Sirius tried to make the teams he, Maia and James against the children before Lyra started to argue, and they eventually agreed that Ron, Harry and James, against Lyra, Sirius and Maia was a little fairer.

They ended up playing quidditch for much longer than intended, mixing up the positions and teams several times, and Remus kept going inside to check on their dinner, lowering temperatures and keeping it going until they finally decided to come inside.

Dinner was a lively affair, in the kitchen as always – their kitchen table comfortably seated about 8, so the dining room was very rarely used. The maximum amount of people who came around for dinner was just one extra – Neville, or Regulus, never both together – to their household of six.

Sirius cheerily summoned a bottle of finest firewhiskey, pouring a glass for his frowned slightly, "I don't know if-"

Sirius interrupted her, "Oh come on, we're celebrating aren't-"

"I _know_ but-"

"It's good stuff, you-"

"I know it's supposed to be good, but _you_ know-"

"Doesn't matter if whiskey gives you headache, we're celebrating," Sirius insisted, lifting up his glass in a toast, "To having Harry back."

Maia nodded at him and picked up her newly poured drink, clinking it against his, "To having a lovely Christmas."

Sirius took a big swig of his drink and Ron observed the twins in amusement. Their back and forth teasing and finishing each other's sentences was every bit as amusing as his brothers' and he already thought that they were very cool people. His parents never joined in flying with he and his brothers but Harry's parents and uncle not only joined in, but were good, and had been very good back in their day.

"So, tell us everything," James said, taking a swig of his own drink, "tell us all about school."

Harry wasn't sure what to say – he'd written lots in his letters and it wasn't as if his parents were muggles, they knew everything about Hogwarts. Maia, sensing her son's hesitation, smiled encouragingly, "Come on, you must have _loads _to tell us. It doesn't matter that you've written to us – everything is better in person."

"Why don't you tell us about your favourite lessons?" Remus pressed.

"Don't be so boring," Sirius teased, "tell us about the troll."

"Yeah, how big was it?" Lyra demanded.

It went on for ages, Harry telling them stories from Hogwarts, about the lessons, the castle, the teachers, the ghosts, his fellow pupils, quidditch, Hagrid. Lyra listened happily, asking so many questions, the adults were all enthusiastic too, and Ron seemed to come out of his shell, chipping in more and more, the longer they all sat together.

Eventually the children went upstairs to bed, and the adults went not long after.

Maia heard Harry and Ron's footsteps upstairs when she went to bed – Harry and Lyra's bedrooms were on the next floor up from the master bedroom and James' office. She was unsurprised that they were still awake, but didn't mind as long as they kept the noise down.

"Are you happy, love?" James asked, closing the bedroom door behind him.

Maia nodded, a smile crossing her face, "Impossibly so."

James chuckled and watched as she started to remove her jewellery, beginning with her wedding ring, which she placed carefully down on her dressing table. He watched as she reached behind her for the clasp of her necklace and smiled lightly, walking forwards.

"Here," he mumbled, resting his hands on her shoulders and spinning her around so she stood with her back to him.

His hands came up to unfasten her necklace and she felt his fingers lingering for longer than strictly necessary, sending a shiver straight down her spine.

"Ron seems nice," Maia said, trying to ignore the tingling sensation.

"Mmm," James agreed, "seems like a nice enough kid, I guess. I'm sure he'll be terrified of us all by the end of the holiday though, with Padfoot and Lyra up to their usual tricks. Not to mention your brother coming over for dinner every week."

"What's my brother got to do with it?" Maia frowned, as James caught her necklace in one hand and leaned down to press a kiss to the back of her neck.

"Well, he's a bit scary," James replied.

Maia scoffed as she turned around to look at him and removed a few pins from her hair, letting it all tumble down. "Scary? Darling, you're Head Auror. Besides, he's your brother-in-law, you get along. "

James couldn't deny that but he shrugged anyway, "Yeah but you know there's something scary about him."

Maia couldn't deny it either – he was an ex death-eater and he cut a tall and imposing figure. He rarely smiled. He was dark and mysterious, and Maia would imagine how the school children might think he was scary.

"Scary," Maia repeated, tossing her robes onto her dressing table stool and standing just in her underwear, "honestly Jamie, aren't you supposed to be big and brave?"

"I _am _big and brave," he replied, puffing his chest out and making her laugh.

When they eventually climbed into bed, Maia shuffled over to James and went to rest her head against his chest. James moved quicker than she did and he put his thumb and forefinger under her chin, tilting her face up towards him and pressing a lingering kiss to her lips.

"I'm impossibly happy too," he told her.

On the next floor up, Harry lay in bed smiling at the ceiling.

Across the room, Ron also lay in bed. Maia had eventually decided to put Ron in Harry's room after James had pointed out that if they had separate rooms, they'd only end up in the same room all the time anyway, just as when Sirius, James would spend all their summer nights in his room, plotting and teasing, and Maia would sneak in too.

"Your house is _so_ cool," Ron gushed.

Harry smiled, "Yeah, it's good."

"It's no _wonder_ you're so good at quidditch, growing up with that in your garden. Your Mum and Dad are _great. _I can't believe they won the house cup three times in a row!"

"Sirius too," Harry added, "don't let him hear you forget him."

"Three times," repeated Ron in awe, "were they all chasers?"

"Sirius was the seeker," Harry repeated, "My uncle Regulus was Slytherin's seeker at the same time. Mum says it made Gryffindor versus Slytherin matches the dirtiest games she's ever seen."

"So much good quidditch in your blood," Ron sighed enviously.

Ron next started to gush about Harry's dad being an Auror, then how much fun they all were – he couldn't imagine his mum and dad joining in like that, they were both so sensible. Still, he had plenty of brothers to make up for it. Mr and Mrs Potter, and Harry's uncles, all reminded him of Fred and George really.

As Harry listened to Ron talk about how wonderful his house was, he smiled to himself. It didn't matter what was in the house, or what he had. His family were right downstairs, and it was good to be home.


	9. Christmas

**I just want to address one guest review here as guest reviews can't be replied to directly. To the guest who is disappointed and annoyed I have included Ron "after readers specifically asked you not to" and is threatening to stop reading because I "don't respect people's opinions": It's a shame you feel like that but you also have to respect my right to write what I want. If you feel you need to stop reading, that's fine.**

**Thank you so much to everyone else – you always provide helpful, lovely and constructive feedback, even if you don't agree with me. I always like asking for input and have taken a lot on board and will continue to open things to votes and advice.  
This is basically just a chapter of fluff and not much plot to round off christmas. I was going to do New Year's too but the chapter was getting too long!**

* * *

Chapter Nine

Harry being home for Christmas to unite the whole family had made Maia more happy than she could ever imagine – it was her favourite time of year, and her two beautiful children were home with her.

Everything was better with the whole family back together. Maia adored seeing her son all sleepy and messy haired in his pajamas some mornings before she went to work – although he and Ron _didn't_ often surface from his room before she left for work.

She loved how when she came home from work, he'd seek her out, coming to say hello and giving her the chance to cuddle him and ask him all about his day. His pale face flushed red when she fussed over him in front of his friend, but she was sure that he didn't mind _really_.

Eating dinner with her boy most nights was a wonderful thing too, chatting about anything and everything, just having him there.

Playing quidditch together in the garden was wonderful. Maia had never been more proud of him than when she saw him in the air. She sometimes liked to sit on the swing and watch James and Harry – Harry was desperate to try and outfly his dad. He wasn't there yet, but there was no doubt about it that the day would come when he could outfly three-time house cup winner James Potter, and all the rest of them too.

Ron was fitting in quite quickly too – he was quieter than any of the others when they were all together, but Maia couldn't blame him. He didn't know them very well, but being used to living in such a big, noisy family, he was adjusting quickly.

Having Neville back in the house was wonderful too. He'd been over for tea and slept there twice a week since he was very small, and he came to them the night after Harry came home.

It was clear that Harry and Neville had remained the best of friends at Hogwarts and Ron had quickly joined them. Maia had always loved having Neville in the house too. He was quiet and shy but they all loved him as an aunt and uncles, and would have done anything to look after Frank and Alice's son.

Everything about Harry being at home was wonderful and Maia thought the Christmas holidays were already going too quickly.

Maia was just grateful that she wasn't working a Christmas day shift this year – working on Christmas day was always horrible, but someone had to be at the hospital. She'd be working until late on Christmas eve and taking on two long shifts between boxing day and the new year, but none of that mattered.

All in all, Harry had slotted straight back into family life, and the only thing that was missing was Regulus, who hadn't been able to make it to their usual family dinner on the first Sunday after Harry was back. He'd sent a charming letter of apology and insisted that he couldn't make it because he was swamped in marking work, which he needed to get done if he wanted to not have to do any work over the Christmas period.

It had been agreed that Regulus would not only be coming over for Christmas dinner, but also staying over on Christmas night. Maia had then asked if he was coming over earlier, to open presents with them, and it had also been agreed that he would stay over on Christmas Eve.

He'd also decided to stay over on Boxing Day since James, Maia and Sirius were going to the annual ministry ball that evening. James and Maia hadn't gone when the children were very small, but since they were older, they went. With James being head of the department, his presence was quite important, and he'd have no end of grief from the minister if he didn't turn up.

In the past, Remus had stayed home with the children, which the others felt a bit bad about. This year, Regulus had offered to stay over on Boxing Day to watch the children – he loved Lyra and Harry so he'd be happy to keep them company – so Remus was going to the ball too. Ministry workers were all allowed to bring a guest – most brought their partners, some brought a mother or an adult child, but Sirius was perfectly happy to use his guest ticket for Remus.

Naturally, Regulus was also invited to join them on New Year's Eve and Maia had asked him if he didn't want to just come on Christmas Eve and stay until New Year's. Regulus had politely replied that he wasn't sure about staying for a week, and it was decided that he would stay on Christmas Eve, Christmas day and Boxing day, go back to the castle for a few days, and come back for New Year's. Maia had allocated him the spare room on the first floor, next to Sirius and two doors down from Remus.

Two days before Christmas, Maia pulled her cloak tightly around herself as she prepared to go to work. Standing beside her in the kitchen, James pulled on his own cloak, fastening it securely under his chin and glancing at the clock.

"Need to go," he sighed, "I've got a lot of work to do if I want do avoid the office between Christmas and the new year."

"I'll see you after work then," Maia nodded, leaning up to kiss him on the lips.

James kissed back eagerly, a smile on his face when they broke apart, "I'll meet you by the fireplaces at the hospital, shall I?" Before Maia protested, he added, "There's no point meeting you in Diagon Alley because your shifts always run over. At least if I'm in the hospital, you can send one of those horrid lime-green memos down to me."

"You don't always finish on time either," Maia pointed out, reaching for a handful of floo powder.

"I'm the head of the department," James replied, "I'll be out of there on time and waiting for you by the fireplaces at 5 minutes past 5, even if it means bringing some stuff home with me. If we go tomorrow, all the shops will be too busy."

Maia nodded – they were planning on going to Diagon Alley to pick up a few last minute presents. Luckily, all the shops were open very late in the run up to Christmas. They also intended to buy the food they didn't yet have for the dinner. Regulus had promised to provide dessert and a nice bottle of something for dinner – as he always did.

"Do you have the shopping list?" Maia asked him, hesitating with the floo powder in her hand.

"Got it," James replied, "so I'll see you after work, we can get all of this shopping, and you can disappear for a bit so I can get you a nice present."

Maia raised her eyebrows at him, some of the floo powder falling through her fingers and back into the pot, "I already told you that you don't have to bother about getting me much. I've already got so many lovely things."

"I like spoiling you," James replied, ruffling up his hair just like he was still a teenager.

Maia smiled fondly, well aware that he'd say something like that, "Have a good day at work."

James was unsurprised to find himself waiting by the floo fireplaces at St Mungo's hospital at quarter past five. He simply took a seat and picked up a nearby copy of the Evening Prophet, despite the fact that he heard enough news at the Ministry every day.

He checked his watch at seventeen minutes past five and at the same time heard a throat clearing and looked up to see a young witch with curly blonde hair, her little hat askew.

"Mr Potter?" the girl asked.

James was fairly sure he'd never met her but enough people he didn't know knew his face, and it would have been easy enough for Maia to describe him to one of her colleagues. "Yes," he replied.

The girl smiled, "Healer Potter said I should tell you on my way out, that she's nearly finished. She should be down in two minutes."

James thanked the girl and put aside the paper. He stood up, straightening his robes and smoothing them down with the palms of his hands and exactly two minutes later, his wife appeared, hurrying towards him.

She was still wearing her work robes – she'd meant to change out of them because Merlin knew she hated _lime-green _but she was running late so she'd decided not to bother. Several long curls were escaping from the pins in her hair and she looked a little flustered.

"James, I'm sorry I'm late," she gushed, leaning up to kiss his cheek, "I was stuck with a kid with severe burns from a fire crab. Honestly, idiot parents _breeding_ fire crabs when they have young children. I've a good mind to pass it onto the ministry and make sure they've got a license. Anyway, I'm sorry I'm late."

"You don't have to apologise for looking after injured people," James replied, resting a hand on the small of her back as they started towards one of the fireplaces.

"Yes but I'm still sorry you were kept waiting," Maia replied.

"Not at all," James told her, leaning down to kiss her cheek when they chose a fireplace and reaching up to brush some of her hair away from her face, tucking a curl behind her ear.

James used the fireplace first and when Maia arrived in Diagon Alley, he was waiting for her and leaned down, offering her a hand.

She smiled, brushing the soot off her robes as she stood up and took in her surroundings. Diagon Alley was very busy – it seemed that everyone was doing their last minute shopping after work. James seemed to have the same thought as he looked around, sighed and then took hold of her hand, tucking it into the crook of his arm. Maia smiled, sure that they made a very distinctive couple as they started to walk down the alley. As if their faces weren't recognisable enough, the healer robes, and James' burgundy Auror robes were distinctive and they made a colourful pair.

Shopping seemed to go on for hours and James was carrying several bags by the time he turned to Maia and said, "Now you have to leave me for ten minutes so I can buy you a present."

"This is highly disorganised of you," Maia replied with a cheeky grin, "honestly, leaving my present until two days before Christmas, when I'm _with_ you."

"Darling wife, I'm buying you something wonderful, won't you just let me?" James replied, holding his hand to his heart as if he'd been wounded.

She rolled her eyes at him but chuckled, "How about I wait for you in the Leaky Cauldron? I could do to get out of the crowds and they do a lovely hot chocolate."

"I'll be quick," James promised, "you'll be ok?"

"I'll be just fine. Nothing too extravagant, alright?" she told him.

"_Go_," he replied firmly, amusement flashing in his eyes.

Maia had only just ordered her hot chocolate and taken it to an empty table when she saw a familiar face. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised – every time she went somewhere busy she seemed to see someone she knew.

She spotted her across the place, ordering a drink at the bar – a woman wearing a thick dark cloak with the hood up, but the hood was threatening to fall down and Maia had a good look at her profile. For a moment, as this distance, she wasn't sure whether she was looking at her cousin Bellatrix, or her cousin Andromeda. A second glance gave away the softer features of the woman's face, revealing her to be Andromeda, especially when she pushed her hood back and Maia could get a better look at her.

Maia watched Andromeda turn away from the bar after paying, clutching her drink. She scanned the room, looking for an empty table and Maia lifted her hand in a wave, drawing attention to herself. Andromeda saw her and smiled, immediately walking over to her.

"Maia!" she smiled, setting her hot drink down on the table and then holding her arms out.

Maia rose to her feet and embraced her cousin, smiling at the affectionate kiss that was planting on her cheek when they broke apart from their hug.

"Good to see you," Andromeda smiled as they both sat down, "what are you doing out here all by yourself? I don't know if I've _ever_ seen you without Sirius or James."

Maia shrugged, "I know – pair of overprotective fools. I _am_ with James actually. Well, I was. We're picking up a few last bits for Christmas and he's sent me away so he can get me something. He shouldn't be long. Anyway – what brings you out here, Christmas too?"

"Just picking a few things up," Andromeda nodded, taking a sip of her drink, "how's the family? How are the children?"

"Great," Maia replied, smiling at the thought of her family, "Lyra's a little devil, and Sirius encourages her too much but-"

"You were a little devil at that age too," Andromeda replied fondly, "I bet she's just like you."

Maia couldn't deny that she saw herself in the girl, and continued, "Harry's home for Christmas too, so it's great to have him back. He's brought a friend with him – Molly and Arthur Weasley's boy."

Andromeda nodded – Molly and Arthur were a couple of years older than her and she remembered them a little from school. Her daughter had been in the same year as Charlie Weasley at school and they'd been friends.

"It must be lovely to have him back," Andromeda smiled, "I used to dream of Dora coming home for the holidays. The first time she decided to stay at school, I was heart-broken."

Maia frowned – the thought had never occurred to her, "Oh _Merlin, _I can't imagine not having him back for Christmas. How do you cope with that?"

Andromeda shrugged, "You just … _do. _It all gets easier and in the end they always come back. Look at Dora now – we've not only got her for Christmas, but she lives with us. At least until she meets some man – Ted's _dreading _it. And it's only a matter of time, not she's off in the world."

Maia smiled, "I'm sure James and Sirius keep an eye on her at work. If they have their way, Lyra won't have her first boyfriend until she's 50, and they like Tonks, so if they're anywhere near as protective of her as they are of Lyra …"

Andromeda smiled too, "It _is_ comforting you know, knowing that she's got someone there to keep an eye on her. She speaks very fondly of them both. And of you and Lyra."

"Lyra loves her," Maia nodded, taking a sip of her drink and smiling in appreciation, "did she ask you about New Year's Eve? James was supposed to tell her to invite you and Ted over."

"She told us," Andromeda replied, "and we'll be there."

Maia nodded, satisfied. Their new year's eve plans were quite low-key. They would be having a bit of food and a few drinks at home, probably sitting out in the gardens, which last year Remus had lit up with brightly coloured lights and they'd all cast plenty of heating charms. This year Neville would be sleeping over, and Regulus, Tonks, Ted and Andromeda were all coming over.

"Will Regulus be there?" Andromeda asked – she hadn't seen him in years since she'd only really started seeing Sirius and the Potters much since her daughter started work in the auror office, and Regulus was always up at the school.

"He wouldn't dare miss it," Maia smirked.

They spoke for ten more minutes about their families, about what they'd been up to, and they were both laughing at one of Andromeda's anecdotes about a young Nymphadora, when a figure appeared beside them, casting a shadow over their table.

"Well, hello ladies," a cheery voice called.

"James," Maia smiled, rising to her feet and trying to get a look at the bags he was carrying.

James raised his eyebrows at her, "It's very well hidden inside one of the other bags, so stop looking," he told her, kissing her cheek briefly and turning to Andromeda, who had also stood up. James greeted her fondly, with a kiss to the cheek and then pulled up a chair at the table.

"Is it snowing?" Maia asked eagerly, noticing flakes on his robes and reaching out to brush them off.

"Just started," he replied, "it's quite fast. So Andy, are you coming over on New Year's Eve?"

By the time they'd finished their drinks and gone home, the snow was falling quite heavily and whilst James took some of the shopping upstairs, Maia put the rest of it away in the kitchen. Through the window, she saw Sirius, Remus and the children engaged in a snowball fight and smiled.

Now would have been the perfect time to have access to the invisibility cloak, she thought, remembering all the times that James had won snowball fights by hiding under his cloak so they couldn't see him. It had been a great source of entertainment for the children when they were small.

She jumped slightly when something hit the window with a thud, but grinned at the snow sliding down it, especially when she saw Sirius waving at her from across the garden.

"Get out here!" he shouted.

Out in the gardens, Maia focused all of her attention on her brother, letting the children fight amongst themselves. None of them were using wands, though Maia's was stuffed in her pocket and she was sorely tempted to use it when Sirius managed to hit her straight in the face with a handful of snow.

Eventually, Sirius and Maia were paying attention to no-on but each other. Out of the corner of her eye, Maia saw James and Lyra ganging up on Harry and Ron. She and Sirius circled each other, eyes locked, trying to read each other's next moves.

Maia saw a mischievous glint in his eyes and knew he what he was going to do just a second before he did it and she shook her head at him.

"Sirius, don't you _dare_!" she told him sternly, shaking her head at him as he grinned at her.

Her shout caught the attention of the others, and Maia turned on her heel and ran just as Sirius transformed into a big black dog.

Pulling her wand from her pocket, Maia pointed it behind her without looking and sent a jet of water towards the dog. She heard him growling and then she was running as fast as she could towards the orchard at the the bottom of the garden, certain she was going to trip over her own feet.

She heard Sirius behind her and as she ran towards James, she laughed, "Help me!"

James smirked at her, "Oh no, this is _your_ fight," he said.

Maia glared at him, using her wand to send a jet of water in his face too before she started to run again. She knew Sirius was moving slower than he was capable of, to let her get a head start but as she ran to the orchard, she knew he was picking up the pace, and she stumbled over her feet and wobbled, almost landing face first in the snow.

Sirius took advantage of the situation and moved in front of her, jumping up so his wet paws were on her shoulders and pushing her onto her back in the snow.

Maia groaned as she landed but burst out laughing almost immediately. She shouted at Sirius as he pawed at her and when he licked her hand with his wet slobbery tongue, she was thoroughly unimpressed and pushed his head away.

"Get off me!" she shouted at him, clambering back to her feet and realising she was soaked through and starting to feel very cold. Sirius jumped up at her, paws catching on her robes, and she pushed him away, to which he shook himself out, and she found herself covered in all the water that had soaked into his fur.

When he transformed back into a human, she glared at him, and he just smirked, "Better luck next time, sister."

As they walked back over to the others, Maia wrapped her arms around herself and Sirius produced his wand from his robes, using it to dry her off, to which she nodded gratefully.

"That was so cool!" Ron gasped, nudging Harry and staring at Sirius.

Harry had grown up with it so didn't think it was a big deal but his parents had told him how unusual it was to be able to transform into an animal – there were less than 10 registered animagi this century – so he supposed he could understand Ron's awe.

"You could have helped!" Maia told James when she reached his side, robes now dry but starting to get wet again as the snow was still falling, and it was bitterly cold now it was getting late.

James shrugged, "I know better than to get involved in a fight between you and your brother," he replied, "come on, shall we go inside? I'll get dinner started and I'll even make you a cup of tea."

"I want to stay out here," Lyra pouted.

"You can do," Maia assured her, shuddering against the cold as James put his arm around her shoulders, "we'll shout you when dinner is ready."

As she and James started to walk inside, she repeated to him, "You could have helped."

James laughed, rubbing his hand up and down her arm and leaning over to drop a kiss into her hair, "It was much more entertaining to watch."

She rolled her eyes, "Honestly, what's the point of having an animagus husband if you won't use your talents to come to my aid?"

The next day, Christmas Eve, Maia went to work at 8am and didn't leave until 9pm. It was a shame not to be at home on Christmas eve, but her children weren't very young, so it didn't matter too much, and she was lucky to have Christmas day and boxing day off, and she was only working new year's eve until the middle of the afternoon so she had plenty of time to enjoy the night,

Maia left work tired and exhausted, after having gone round and wished merry christmas to all of her patients who would still be here tomorrow, and finally went to the permanent residence ward to visit Frank and Alice, sitting with them for a while and talking to them. She never got much of a response out of them but they always smiled and they seemed to know she was someone they liked and who visited often.

When she arrived home in the fireplace, she stepped out to find the kitchen empty and batted a bit of soot off her robes. Stepping into the hallway, she called, "Hello?"

"We're in here!" called James from the living room.

Maia walked down the hallway and stopped in the doorway of living room, smiling when she saw the men in front of her. The four of them were sitting around with a glass of firewhiskey each, Remus sprawled out on the sofa, Sirius cross-legged on the foor, James in one arm chair and Regulus in the other.

"Hi, you lot," she smiled, rubbing a hand over her face, trying to feel more awake.

"Sister," Regulus smiled, his usual half-smile, getting to his feet and walking towards her.

Since he'd missed their last sunday dinner, it had been almost two weeks since she'd last seen him, and she pushed off from the doorway to greet him. He rested his hands on her upper arms as he reached down to kiss one of her cheeks, and then the other.

Maia smiled at him as he went to sit back down again, "What time did you get here?"

"Around 4," he replied, picking up his glass again, "I managed to get all my work done, lesson plans for after the holidays and the like. _So,_ I'm here, I'm not distracted. Merry Christmas."

She rolled her eyes at him, "You're always so … serious. Is it so bad that I wanted you here to celebrate the holidays with your family? Honestly, I don't know why you're not staying the whole week. You're more than welcome to."

"I've already told him," Sirius said, "he said he likes his own company."

Maia nodded – he was quite impossible sometimes. Glancing at James, she asked, "Did you manage to get the last of the presents wrapped up?"

"All done," he replied.

"Good," she replied, "and every-thing's prepared for tomorrow's dinner too?"

"Done," James answered, "your brother brought dessert and a couple of bottles of wine. All in the fridge."

"Thanks, Reg. Did you make it this year?" she asked Regulus, raising her eyebrows. Every year he brought dessert, always something wonderful and elaborate that he'd had the Hogwarts house-elves make, and they always teased him about whether he was going to ever make something all by himself.

"No because I wanted it to be _good," _Regulus said.

"Are the kids in bed?" Maia asked her husband, trying to think of everything she needed to have ready for the next day, when all she really wanted to do was close her eyes and do nothing.

"They're in their rooms, at least," James replied.

Maia nodded – she'd always made a habit of going to kiss her children goodnight if she'd come home from work late, and with Harry only home for two weeks, she wasn't going to let there be a day on which she hadn't seen him.

"I'll go up to say hello," Maia decided.

"You look exhausted," James told her, getting to his feet, "do you want dinner? We left you a plate, I can heat it up. Drink?"

Regulus watched them in amusement. Family life was still such a mystery to him, despite having spent all this time around Maia and her family. James fussed over Maia so much, and it was strange to imagine that the fearless, bold James Potter who ran the auror office was the same sweet family man who would do anything his wife asked him. He couldn't imagine having someone to fuss over him all the time, to look after him, someone for him to take care of, someone to be there all the time. He wondered if it would be nice. James and Maia certainly made it look nice.

"Dinner would be great, and just a cup of tea," Maia replied, patting James on the chest as he leaned down to kiss her lips briefly, "I'll just go and see the kids."

Maia first called into her daughter's bedroom, finding Lyra sitting up in bed with a book on her lap.

"Hey sweetie," she smiled.

"Mum," Lyra smiled, sitting up straighter and putting her book down, "did you just get home?"

"I had to take a long shift today to be able to have tomorrow off," Maia replied, sitting on the edge of the bed, "but it's worth it to be here with you all tomorrow. Are you excited?"

"Uncle Regulus said he's got me the best present," Lyra told her mother happily, eyes shining brightly.

Maia laughed, "He shouldn't say things like that. It's not a competition, and your Uncle Regulus should stop trying to get you to say he's your favourite uncle."

Lyra shrugged, "He only said it because Uncle Padfoot called himself my favourite."

Maia rolled her eyes, "They should know better than to fight over who your favourite is, by now. You don't _have_ a favourite uncle."

"I should just tell them both it's Uncle Moony," Lyra said.

"Don't encourage them," Maia told her, shaking her head, "you should now by now that boys are silly and your uncles are no exception."

"What time can we open presents in the morning?" Lyra asked eagerly.

Maia smiled at her daughter – they had this conversation every single year and could never agree. "Not too early. I've had a long day, and if we all get up too early tomorrow, we'll be falling asleep after dinner."

"Is 6 too early?"

Maia scoffed, "_Far_ too early. _You_ won't be awake at six! You're never awake at six."

Lyra shrugged, "It's different on Christmas. I _never_ sleep properly on Christmas. Seven?"

Maia sighed. She knew she'd be awake early in the morning too, but with how she was feeling, could definitely do with a lie-in. In all honestly, she was bound to be awake as early as she children, and she reached out to brush some of Lyra's hair away from her face.

"Tell you what," she said, "if your dad and I aren't awake by 8, you can come and get us, but not before."

"8?!"

"8," Maia repeated, "but you can open the stocking by your bed before then if you want, just like always. Sweetie, don't pout, I'm sure Daddy and I will be awake before 8 anyway."

Lyra eventually gave in and Maia gave her a big hug before leaving the room, telling her not to stay awake too late. She next knocked on Harry's bedroom door, and pushed it open, where she saw Harry and Ron sitting on the floor in their pajamas with a wizard's chess board between them.

"Hello boys," she smiled, stepping into the room and walking over to them.

"Hello Mrs Potter," Ron smiled.

"Hi Mum," Harry smiled, getting to his feet so she could hug him. She hadn't seen him all day and she loved that he always hugged her back with such enthusiasm, despite having his friend here with him. When she let go of him, he sat back down and Maia knelt down too, looking at the chessboard.

She'd played enough chess in the Gryffindor common room as a teenager and in her own living room since, to know how a game between two eleven year olds was going to end. Harry wasn't particularly skilled at the game, and she could already tell that he was going to lose in a few moves time, but turned her attention back to her son.

"How are you both?" she asked, "did you get up to much today?"

"Not much," Harry replied with a shrug, "we made snowmen in the garden earlier with Lyra, then had a fly around, played chess for a bit, had dinner."

"Was it nice to have dinner with Regulus again?" Maia asked her son, "you've missed so many dinners so you went off to school. I bet you don't see much of him at school."

"Not much outside lessons," Harry admitted, "but he stops for a chat when he can."

"Must be strange to have your uncle teaching you," Maia mused, before glancing at Ron, "I hope it won't be too odd for you to have dinner with your Professor."

Ron's cheeks flushed red a little as he replied, "Erm ...It's … no, it's fine."

Maia smiled a little, "He's very normal, I assure you. And if you can put up with Harry's Uncle Sirius, then you can put up with anything."

Harry smirked – Ron's face had been a picture during the dinner they'd had earlier, just after Regulus had arrived. Regulus had always been more serious and reserved than either Remus or Sirius, and it was more difficult to feel at ease around him. Ron had looked awkward and a bit scared, but Harry had assured him there was nothing to worry about. Regulus had spent most of dinner talking to Lyra anyway.

Maia didn't linger for long, telling them what time Lyra wanted to wake up in the morning, and telling them that they too could get up when they wanted so long as they didn't wake up she and James until 8. She promised them a special breakfast in the morning and bid them goodnight.

When she went back downstairs, Maia caught Sirius pouring everyone another drink, and found James sitting in the armchair with a tray on his lap, and a plate of dinner heated up on it.

He vacated the chair when she entered the room and placed the tray on her lap, and indicated a mug on the coffee table. She smiled gratefully at him as he settled down on the sofa.

Maia ate her dinner and drank her tea quickly, feeling quite hungry. She hadn't managed to get much to eat during her shift and hadn't realised quite how hungry she was.

After finishing her dinner, she announced that she was going to bed.

Sirius tried to convince her to have a drink but she insisted she was too tired and rose to her feet, reminding James to summon the Christmas presents downstairs in a while, after the children were asleep.

She rose to her feet to say goodnight and kissed Remus, then both of her brothers on the cheek. Regulus was slightly taken aback, forgetting how incredibly affectionate his sister's family was.

Regulus smiled as she straightened up, "Good night, dearest sister," he said.

"What about me?" James asked,his voice full of teasing.

Maia raised her eyebrows at him, "What _about_ you? Goodnight, everyone."

James came to bed an hour after Maia did and tried to be quiet as he slipped into the bedroom, because she was fast asleep. He closed the bedroom door behind himself as quietly as possible, not bothering to turn the lights on, and slipped into their ensuite bathroom to brush his teeth.

When he emerged, now just wearing his underwear, he tossed his robes onto the dressing table chair, with the intention of sorting them out tomorrow and glanced at the bed.

All he could see of Maia was her hair and she was curled up in a ball, her hair falling over her face. As he placed his glasses on his bedside table, he noticed Maia shift a little and then she rolled over and looked at him. He should have known, he thought. She'd always been a light sleeper.

"Come to bed," she mumbled sleepily.

"Sorry love, didn't mean to wake you," he told her, lifting up the duvet and sliding into bed beside her.

"Doesn't matter," she said, curling up in a little ball again.

James chuckled as he shifted over to her – he'd often thought his wife must be part cat. He reached out to brush her hair out of the way and wrapped an arm around her waist, curling up behind her. He kissed her neck and she sighed in contentment.

"Go to sleep," James whispered, "it's nearly Christmas."

"Did you get all the presents downstairs?" she asked, "is everything all ready?"

"It's fine," he whispered, "now, sleep. In the morning, there will be presents."

"Goodnight darling," she whispered back, drifting off to sleep again.

Maia woke up the next morning because there was a strange tapping sensation on her noise and a tickling sensation travelling up and down her eyes. She frowned a little, her sleepy mind trying to work out what it was, then heard a chuckle beside her, and realised James was trailing his fingers up and down her arm and occasionally tapping her nose, clearly trying to wake her up.

"Stop that," Maia mumbled.

"Wake _up_, it's Christmas!" James insisted.

As much as she wanted to sleep for a bit longer, the knowledge that it was Christmas day and there were presents to open, dinner to prepare and eat, chocolates to snack on, festive drinks to open, games to play. She loved watching the children on Christmas day more than any other part of the day.

"What time is it?" Maia asked, opening her eyes to see James wide awake and excited already.

James glanced over her shoulder at the clock but frowned, unable to quite make out the numbers without his glasses, "Not sure," he replied honestly.

She smiled fondly and sat up a little, looking behind her – it was 7am. She sighed and looked back at James, "Well, I suppose I'm up now." She smiled and reached out to him, resting one hand on his shoulder and drawing him in, "Merry Christmas, darling."

"Merry Christmas," he replied, leaning down and claiming her lips, kissing her deeply.

When they broke apart, Maia smiled, "I bet the kids are already awake," she said, looking up towards the ceiling as if to hear for any noise coming from the direction of their bedrooms, "come on, you've woken me up now, we might as well get up."

James grinned at her as they got out of bed and Maia didn't bother to get dressed properly, instead wearing her pajamas and dressing gown. None of them ever bothered to get dressed properly until after the presents had been opened.

After running a brush through her hair, Maia pushed open the bedroom door and tried to listen out for any movement upstairs. It would be unlike either of her children to be still in bed on Christmas morning, but the first noise she heard was creaking on the staircase below her. She stepped forward and looked over the bannister to see Sirius leaving his room and heading downstairs.

"Merry Christmas!" she called.

Sirius looked up at the sound of her voice and grinned, "Merry Christmas! Glad you're up already. I've been awake for an hour, debating whether it was appropriate to get out of bed!"

"You're a child," Maia told him, rolling her eyes, though she was smiling.

"_You're_ awake too," he pointed out, "Are the kids up?"

"Prongs is, but I haven't checked upstairs," Maia replied as he appeared on the landing beside her and looked over the balcony, poking her playfully in the ribs for her comment.

"Merry Christmas mate," James called with a grin, "are you going to put the kettle on?"

Sirius scoffed, "It's Christmas day – I thought we could start off with a drink! Go on, just a small one. A little champagne – it's a celebration."

"_What_ is all this commotion?" came a low, very unimpressed sounding voice as another door opened on the landing below.

Maia took a few steps down the staircase and looked from a grinning Sirius to a very unimpressed Regulus, who was wearing a long black dressing gown and scowling.

"It's Christmas!" Sirius announced.

"I know that," Regulus replied, "but I didn't realise you'd be all be shouting on the landings at the crack of dawn, like a bunch of blithering idiots."

Silence fell over them for a moment, before James, Maia and Sirius all burst out laughing, which only made Regulus scowl more. Maia clutched at her side as she laughed at younger brother, and when she'd recovered enough to speak, she turned to Sirius, "Do you hear him?"

Sirius nodded, wiping a tear away from his eye, "He sounds just like a _professor."_

"He sort of sounds like McGonagall," James added, causing a fresh wave of laughter as the three of them recalled the times they'd been reprimanded by the deputy headmistress, particularly during loud common room parties.

Sirius adopted a high pitched voice and attempted – albeit very badly – her Scottish accent, "Mr Black, if you can't calm yourself _this instant_, I shall have you polishing the trophy room for a month! And Mr Potter, I expected better of you. You're _Head Boy_!"

Regulus looked unamused and the noise had attracted the attention of Remus, who also came out of his room in his night clothes. Remus looked faintly amused by the whole situation, folding his arms and watching them all, and from the expression on his face, Maia could tell that he'd been awake for a while anyway – he was just as much of a child as the others sometimes, up so early at the thought of presents.

"You're not funny," Regulus told his older brother coolly.

"Sure he is," Maia replied with a smirk, "Merry Christmas, Regulus."

With a long suffering sigh, Regulus' lips twitched into a slight smile and he drawled, "Not even living in a school with hundreds of teenagers, have I been woken up by shouting in the corridors."

"We weren't shouting," Sirius replied, "we were just … talking with raised voices."

Regulus rolled his eyes at the pair of them but allowed himself to smile, "Merry Christmas," he said, shaking his head at the lot of them. He was about to ask whether they were going to go down for breakfast, since they were all awake, when there were footsteps above then and a loud voice.

"They're up!" Lyra called, presumably back to her brother, as she ran down the stairs and appeared beside them, "It's Christmas!" she announced.

"Merry Christmas angel," James replied, immediately opening his arms and pulling her in for a hug. Lyra threw her arms around him and giggled when he hugged her with such enthusiasm that he lifted her up, planting a big kiss on her cheek when he put her down again.

Soon they were all downstairs in the living room, where the children's presents were piled up – Lyra's on one sofa, Harry's on the other, and the presents Ron's mother had sent over for him in the middle, along with those that the Potters, Sirius and Remus had bought him.

The adults presents were under the Christmas tree, and they, as always, would open their presents after the children had opened theirs. Sirius had insisted on pouring them all a drink – pumpkin juice for the children, and champagne for the adults, though Maia had watered it down with orange juice for them all.

She sat happily on the arm of one of the armchairs watching her children open their presents, occasionally nudging James to remind him to take some pictures, and smiling broadly every time one of her children gushed over a present they'd just opened, stroking Hera, who was curled up on her lap.

She was sure Christmas day would always be her favourite, and when the children had opened all their presents, Lyra turned to her parents.

"Your turn!" she said, crawling towards the Christmas tree and picking one of the perfectly wrapped presents up, "Dad, this one's from me and Harry!"

By the time all the presents had been opened there was wrapping paper everywhere and everyone was surrounded by presents, and very happy about it. Mrs Weasley had even been kind enough to knit Harry a sweater, just like she had for Ron, which amused them all. Maia had never learnt how to knit, and she wasn't sure if Lyra would ever be let herself be seen in knitted maroon sweater anyway. Mrs Weasley had also sent a bottle of mulled mead for James and Maia, and a couple of boxes of home-made fudge for the whole house.

As Harry was examining his new broom-stick care kit and Lyra was eagerly examining her new fanged frisbee – one of her presents from Sirius, and Maia honestly wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to give her such a thing – Maia smiled at her own collection of gifts.

Remus, ever practical, had bought a brand new set of books by a renowned Healer recalling her time at St Mungo's 100 years ago, that Maia had been dying to get hold of. The children – or rather, James on the children's behalf - had bought her a small mountain of her favourite sweets and chocolates, and her brothers had been very generous too. She received nice gifts from Tonks and one of the other healers, as they'd carried out a Secret Santa, and bottle of elderflower wine from Ted and Andromeda. James had bought her a collection of small but thoughtful things, all things that she'd dropped hints about. She vaguely wondered what he'd been buying in Diagon Alley when she wasn't there – her presents were all very much appreciated but he'd hinted he'd be spoiling her and she wasn't sure which of these presents he'd been talking about. Probably the bottle of perfume, she decided.

"I'll make breakfast," Maia said, rising to her feet. Both Remus and Regulus had been about to offer to help but James stood up almost immediate.

"I'll help," he announced.

Regulus and Remus exchanged a look – they both knew it was probably best to leave them alone. James had stood up so decisively and so quickly that perhaps he wanted to be alone with her.

Once they were in the kitchen, Maia raised her wand and started to summon things from the cupboards. It was bacon sandwiches all around for breakfast and she summoned several plates out and made them line up on the counter.

"Thank you for my presents," James said, flicking his wand at the oven to turn it on for her, and thinking in particular about his new sneakoscope. He'd mentioned in passing that the one in his office at work had broken and he'd replaced it with the one from his office in the manor, but Maia had seen a beautiful ornate sneakoscope and knew it would be perfect for him.

"You're welcome," Maia replied, cutting open a pack of bacon, "thank you for mine."

James folded his arms and observed her – she wasn't letting on, but he knew she'd been curious about her presents after he'd dropped so many hints about spoiling her. She'd been happy enough with her presents when she opened them, he knew, but he'd led her on and saved one of them – the most important - to give her in private.

"You're welcome too," James replied simply, watching her put breakfast in the oven and then summon some bread and set a knife to work buttering it all. When she'd finished and all that was left to do was wait for the food to be cooked, she turned around to look at her husband and frowned, slightly suspicious.

He was leaning against the freezer with his arms folder, his expression unreadable. He was looking at her intently and a slight smile played on his lips.

"You're up to something," she said suspiciously.

"No," James told her, his smile widening.

"You _are_," she insisted, walking towards him, stopping only when they were almost nose to nose – or would have been if they were the same height.

"Well … maybe," he replied, reaching into his dressing gown and pulling something out. His eyes never left hers as he held out a square package in deep blue paper, "merry Christmas."

Her eyes widened as he pressed it into her hands and she took it carefully, both hands closing around it and trying to figure out what it was – it was a box. "This is ..."

He nodded, amused by the excitement on her face – she was no better than their children, "This is your real present. I told you I was going to spoil you."

"I told you it wasn't necessary," Maia replied, "but I'm very happy. What is it?"

"Open it," James told her with a smile, "and it was necessary. What kind of husband would I be if I didn't treat my wife like goddess? Besides, you bought me the best sneakoscope that's ever been made."

Maia unwrapped the package quickly and found herself looking at a box from a well-known jewellers. She glanced up at James, who nodded encouragingly, and she opened the box then gasped.

Inside the box, hanging on a silver chain, sat a beautiful pendant. It was a gleaming ruby set inside an ornate frame studded with diamonds, and it was by far the most beautiful thing she owned. She owned many nice things, and James never hesitated to treat her on birthdays, anniversaries and christmases, but he'd never bought her something like this without it being a special birthday or anniversary.

She ran her fingers over it, stroking the jewel in the middle carefully and as her finger touched the side, she realised it had a little clasp and opened up. She opened it to find that her beautiful new pendant was in fact a locket, and on one side, James had put a picture of Lyra and Harry, but the other side was empty.

"I didn't know what to put in the other side," James said quietly, watching her carefully, "I was going to put a picture of us, but then I thought maybe you'd rather have another picture of the kids."

"Oh James," Maia breathed, finally looking up at him, "It's _beautiful_."

James smiled, thrilled at her reaction to it, "I'm glad you like it."

She nodded, struggling to find quite the right words, "I didn't expect anything quite so …"

She trailed off and James chuckled, "I told you I wanted to spoil you. I saw it a few weeks ago and thought you'd like it."

"Thank you," Maia said, her face lit with a wide smile, "I love it." She went back to looking at it, running one finger across the jewel, tilting the pendant this way and that and examining it, and let out a soft sigh.

James chuckled and watched her marvel over her present, before she eventually slowly put the box down on the nearby kitchen counter and looked up at him, "You're the best," she said, stepping closer and reaching out to rest her hands on his shoulders, pressing her body up against his.

He grinned and took hold of her waist, his lips practically brushing against hers as he spoke, "You're very welcome." Before she could say anything more, he closed the small distance between them, pressing his lips to hers and kissing her softly. Maia responded in kind, moving one hand up to his face and eventually into his hair. James tightened the arm around her waist as he deepened the kiss and took a step forward, forcing Maia to move backwards until she was pinned between him and the worktop. James broke the kiss to pick Maia up at the waist and he planted her down on the worktop.

She burst out laughing and rested her hands on his shoulders for support, and as James leaned in for another kiss, a voice behind them said, "You two are sickening, you know."

Maia felt her cheeks heat up as James stepped away from her and turned to look at his youngest brother-in-law. Maia met her brother's eyes with a blush and tried to muster up as much dignity as possible, "Excuse me for showing affection to my husband behind closed doors."

Regulus smirked – he'd never been quite as bothered about the affection he saw between them as Sirius had, and although he was brotherly and protective in his own way, he was often more amused than anything else, but still didn't need to see all the kissing, he thought.

"You're like a pair of teenagers," Regulus said, gesturing to the oven, "I just came in to see if you needed a hand but perhaps I should leave?"

"Oh shut up. James, check on the bacon," Maia said, jumping down from the worktop and smoothing down her clothes. She reached out for her present and opened it, showing it to her brother with a smile, "Look, isn't it beautiful?"

James smiled at how proud she was and Regulus – though he had no interest in jewellery – examined it. He nodded, impressed. It was certainly a beautiful necklace and it must have cost him a fortune. He was certainly glad his sister's husband treated her so nicely, and vaguely wondered what it would be like to have someone to spoil.

"Very nice," he said, meeting James' eyes with an approving nod.

After breakfast, which was devoured quite quickly, Maia told her children to go upstairs and get washed and changed for the day. Lyra reappeared in a brand new set of burgundy robes, which she'd picked out because they were strikingly similar to her dad's work robes, and immediately picked up her new fanged frisbee, "Dad, shall we go play in the garden?" she asked.

"Sure," James grinned, "Harry, Ron, are you coming?"

"For Merlin's sake be careful," Maia – now wearing her new pendant and a new set of luxuriously thick grey robes - sighed, as she watched them all leave the living room, Ron talking about how he'd always wanted a fanged frisbee but his mother wouldn't let them have one in the house – Maia thought this was quite sensible and she scowled at Sirius, "I can't believe you bought her that."

Sirius, taking a swig of his drink, shrugged, "She wanted it."

"If anyone gets hurt -"

"It'll be fine," Sirius assured her.

After a moment's pause, Maia couldn't help but smile, "It's been a long time since we played with a fanged frisbee, hasn't it?"

Sirius smirked, "Let's go," he said, gesturing towards the door, and both he and Maia were on their feet in seconds. "C'mon Moony, Reggie."

Regulus rolled his eyes at the nickname, but he'd told himself he was going to spend time with his family, and he was going to join in everything. He knew his little niece wouldn't let him stay inside when everyone else way playing with her new toy.

"Are fanged frisbees banned at Hogwarts these days?" Remus asked mildly, "I should imagine Filch's list is at least 4 times as long as when we were there."

Regulus smirked, "Longer, I'd say, but I don't think it includes the frisbees just yet."

The game turned out to be fairly dangerous and the adults were on their guard. Three times, Maia had to act quickly to deflect the thing away from Ron as it looked set to hit him in the face and she didn't think he was going to catch it. She should really keep the thing away from Neville, she thought.

"Mum, catch!" Harry shouted, throwing the frisbee at her.

Maia caught it with ease, though it nipped her fingers and snarled and she looked for someone else to throw it to, tossing it towards her brother, who had to jump up high but still caught it, quickly sending it hurling towards Ron, who looked vaguely terrified and didn't manage to catch it.

Remus, who was standing to his left, summoned it and gave it back to Ron, who looked uncertain as to who he was going to throw it to - he'd slowly become more comfortable around the family, and they were all polite enough to him. He liked Harry's dad and uncles, and they always tried to include him in conversation, and Harry's mum was very nice too. Harry's sister reminded him of Ginny a bit, and she was eager to join in and play with them, and Harry always let her. The fact that his potions professor was there was a bit weird, but he'd been mostly quiet while they were opening the presents, and through dinner the previous night, which was all he'd seen of him so far, so it hadn't been too strange. Seeing the man now playing frisbee was very weird, and he wondered what it would be like at school after spending Christmas with the man. Probably they'd both just pretend it hadn't happened.

In a fit of bravery, Ron threw the frisbee towards Professor Black – how often did anyone get to hurl a fanged frisbee at the man who'd given their last essay less than half marks? Though Ron had to admit that it was a terrible essay, and he'd written it at the very last minute.

Regulus was barely even looking at the thing as he caught it and he smirked at Ron, "I was a seeker in my day, Mr Weasley."

"Not a three-time house cup winner though," Sirius called with a smirk, almost being hit in the face with the frisbee as Regulus launched it at him.

"I won a house cup," Regulus retorted, catching the frisbee as Sirius tossed it straight back, "the year after you lot graduated."

"Because you never could have beaten us," Maia said, squealing as Regulus aimed the fanged frisbee at her. It skimmed her fingertips, nipping at them, and landed on the snow covered grass beside her. She glared at her younger brother but picked it up and threw it much more gently to her daughter.

Christmas dinner was the best part of the day. Remus, Regulus and James helped Maia plate it all up and take it into the dining room, where they all sat around the large, rarely used table.

"Well brother, are you glad to be back with us?" Maia asked, spearing a roast potato with her fork.

Regulus rolled his eyes at her, "Last year was the first time in about ten years that I _didn't_ spend Christmas day here. Yes, I'm glad to be here. You put on a wonderful dinner."

"Lovely," Remus agreed with a nod, even though he'd helped prepare a lot of it.

"Mmm," Ron agreed through a mouthful of turkey, "this is really good, Mrs Potter."

Maia could do nothing but laugh at the appreciation, and when dinner was over, the crackers were pulled and everyone ended up with a paper hat. Everyone happily put theirs on – Regulus had to have his forced onto his head by Sirius, who threatened to use a sticking charm if his younger brother didn't just let it happen, so Regulus gave in.

By the time they'd all eaten dessert, everyone was extremely full, except the children, who were full of energy and went back outside to play with the frisbee, whilst Sirius, Maia and James slumped onto sofas and armchairs, watching Regulus and Remus play chess. They were very evenly matched, and far less competitive than Sirius and Maia, who could rarely play a game together without cheating.

Eventually it started to snow again and Lyra came inside, her shoes leaving wet prints all over the hallways and her cheeks red from the cold, "Why are you all inside? It's snowing! Come on."

"We're full," James said, patting his stomach.

"Come and build a snowman – it doesn't take much energy," Lyra insisted. James groaned, but Lyra just marched over with her hands on her hips, "Mum, you'll come won't you? See Dad, you have to, if Mum is!"

Maia stood up and immediately went into the hallway to pluck her thickest cloak and gloves from the stand in the hallway – she wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to go play with her children. Fastening the cloak under her chin as she came back to stand in the doorway, she saw Lyra tugging on her father's hand, "C'mon Dad."

"I'll join you when we're done here, Ly," Regulus said from his position by the chessboard, "shouldn't be too long."

Maia smiled – her brother was incredibly soft sometimes, as much as he pretended he wasn't, immediately agreeing to build a snowman with his niece.

James groaned as his daughter looked at him, her grey eyes big and pleading, "You look just like your mother when you do that," he told her, glancing at his wife in the doorway to see her doing the same thing, "don't _you_ join in! How am I ever going to say no to either of you? Fine, I'm coming! I'm going to build the biggest and best snowman you've ever seen."

Maia smiled and wrapped an arm around her daughter's shoulders as they walked into the gardens, "Do you think he should have a scarf?"

In the evening, Maia made the children a nice hot chocolate each and took them through to the living room, where the three of them were sitting around the coffee table, playing one of Lyra's new games. James was playing with them too, although Remus, Sirius and Regulus was in the kitchen, where Sirius had just popped open the bottle of mulled mead that the Weasleys had sent.

"Here we go," Maia said, "Ly, Harry, and one for Ron."

"Thanks Mrs Potter," Ron smiled, taking it from her gratefully and smelling it – it smelt just as good as the hot chocolate his own mother made for him. Maia smiled at him and sank onto the carpet beside James, observing the game.

She watched her children and their friend play their game. Lyra was prone cheating and Harry kept catching her and correcting her. James joined in with the game and they were all teasing each other, laughing, and joking.

James was a wonderful father, she thought to herself. He was great with them, and sometimes there was no greater joy than sitting back and watching her children and husband interacting. The children were both so young and innocent, and they adored James. She was very lucky, she thought, to have this family, and whatever else she'd done in her life, there was nothing better than her children. As she watched Lyra playfully pushing their dad when he jumped ahead of her in the game, pushing her back into last place, and James stuck his tongue out at her playfully.

Nothing had never been, or would ever be, better than her family, and she allowed herself again to think about the possibility of having another child. Merlin knew she loved her children, and she'd kill to protect them, and she'd shower another child with the same love she had her first two, but the strain it would put on them … could they even do it now? Did they really need another child? The more James spoke about it, the more she considered it, and she had to admit to herself that she was now seriously considering it.

An hour or so later, it was well past the children's bed times, but it didn't matter on Christmas.

The radio was blasting out in the living room and a slightly drunken Sirius was dancing Lyra around to all the classic Christmas songs, whilst James loudly recalled a story about one of Tonks' recent clumsy encounters at the office to an amused Remus. Maia, starting to feel a bit tipsy and tired herself, was sitting beside Regulus on the sofa and she shifting her position and let her head drop onto his shoulder. Regulus was vaguely surprised but made no protest, even leaning in to the touch slightly.

Harry and Ron, sitting on the other side of the room and engaged in another game of chess, looked at them in bemusement. Harry was well used to it, but Ron continued to think that this family was as crazy as his own. Harry felt tired and thought it was time to go to bed, but he wasn't quite sure if he was ready to leave the happy family scene.

"Are you tired, kid?" Regulus asked, eyes raking over his nephew.

Harry shrugged, "A little, I guess."

Maia smiled at him, "You don't have to stay down here just for our sakes if you'd rather go up to bed, sweetie."

Harry and Ron decided to go to bed. Ron left first, dropping their mugs off in the kitchen before they went upstairs, and leaving Harry the opportunity to say an affectionate goodnight to his family.

"Goodnight sweetie," Maia said happily as he leaned down to give her a hug. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, kissing his forehead and straightening his glasses.

Half an hour later, Lyra was falling asleep on the sofa, curled up next to her godfather, and Maia looked at James, "We should really wake her up and put her to bed."

James nodded, stepping over from where he'd been fiddling with the radio and kneeling in front of their daughter. "Lyra?" he said gently, shaking her shoulder, "angel, I think it's bed time."

Lyra's eyes opened slowly and she rubbed at her face, "Is it still Christmas, Daddy?"

James grinned, straightening up and taking hold of her hand, "C'mon, let's get you to bed. I'll even give you a lift." He turned around and bent slightly at the knees, indicating that she should climb on his back and Lyra giggled, getting to her feet. She stood on the sofa and Remus cautiously held out a hand, warning her to be careful. Unable to resist joining in the fun, since both Lyra and James were grinning to widely, Maia rose to her feet and went over to take Lyra's hand, encouraging her to jump on James' back.

Her little arms went around his neck and James caught hold of her underneath her legs, "Say goodnight to everyone!"

Lyra waved at her uncles and godfather and laughed loudly as her dad started to carry her from the room, occasionally bending at the knees and pretending he was about to drop her. Maia walked beside him, keeping an arm out beside them because every time James pretended to drop her, Lyra would panic a little and stare at her mother, as if for help.

By the time they'd gotten up three flights of stairs, they were all in fits of laughter, and James dropped Lyra down on her bed.

"Did you have a good day, sweetie?" Maia asked, leaning over the bed and trying to straighten the bed covers – her daughter rarely bothered to make her bed in the mornings.

"Yeah," Lyra replied, "thanks for all my presents."

"You're very welcome. Here are your pajamas, and _honestly,_ why can't you ever make this bed?"

Lyra shrugged as she took hold of her fluffy pajamas, "What are we doing tomorrow?"

Maia looked at James, who shrugged, and then looked back at Lyra, "I don't know, we don't have any plans. What do you _want_ to do? We could all have a lie-in, and there's plenty of left-over turkey for lunch. You know we're all going to the ball at night, so you'll have Uncle Regulus to yourself then."

"Why is Uncle Moony going to the ball this year?" Lyra asked, as Maia glanced around for a hairbrush, thinking her daughter's locks could do with taming.

James answered, "We didn't think it was fair that we all went off and left him at home and Uncle Regulus wanted to spend time with his favourite girl. Is that ok?"

A wicked smile crossed Lyra's face and she nodded. Maia could already see her plotting the tricks she'd try and convince her uncle to play on poor Ron and Harry. "Maybe we could walk down to the beach tomorrow," Lyra suggested.

"That sounds like fun," James agreed, walking over to give her a hug. Lyra hugged him back happily and when he let go of her, Maia leaned down to hug her, smiling as he daughter wrapped her arms around her and rested her head on her shoulder.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth," Maia told her, stroking her hair and then kissing her cheek when they broke apart from each other, "goodnight, sweetie."

The next day, they did indeed go to the beach, after all having a long lie-in to compensate for their early wake up on Christmas day. They packed plenty of sandwiches and snacks and wrapped up warm against the cold. It was no longer snowing but plenty of snow still lay on the ground. The sea was bitterly cold but no-one could resist going for an experimental paddle, which ended in Sirius transforming into a dog and push Remus head first into the water. Remus had growled at him and they'd had a play-fight in the water, which Lyra hadn't been able to resist joining in, but Maia had kept far away from, instead concentrating on the snowman she and Harry were building.

Eventually, it was time to go to the ministry ball, and the four adults who would be attending congregated in the hallway. Maia was the last to arrive, descending the staircase elegantly in a set of ruby red dress robes, which she'd chosen to complement her new pendant, which hung around her neck. Her hair had been left loose, hanging in perfect curls down her back as she'd curled some of the strands hat usually refused to comply. She rarely bothered with make up but tonight wore the perfect red lipstick to match her robes and ruby jewel.

James and Remus were robes of black – Remus looked far smarter than he usually did. James had insisted that he use some of the money he was given for educating Lyra, to treat himself to some new robes. Sirius – always striving to be different – wore robes of dark purple.

"Right," she said, as she appeared in front of the others, "we should get going. Kids, we're going!"

Harry emerged from the living room, Ron lingering in the doorway behind him, and Regulus and Lyra came out of the kitchen, Lyra clutching a chocolate frog.

"Come here then, give us a hug," Maia said, holding out her arms.

"You look pretty, Mum," Lyra said, obeying and giving her a hug, resting her head her mother's shoulder and inhaling her flowery perfume. Maia thanked her and leaned down to kiss her very gently, trying not to leave lipstick marks on her cheek.

"We'll probably be back late, so we'll see you in the morning. Be good for your uncle," Maia told her.

"I'm always good," Lyra replied, going over to hug her dad next, who also tried telling her the same thing. Maia then looked at Harry, "You two be good too," she said, though she was sure she didn't have to worry about him.

"We will, Mum," Harry replied, coming over to hug her, though she hadn't forced him to. She leaned down to hug him happily and forgot to be careful about her lipstick, leaving a big red mark on his face. "Oh dear," she mumbled, reaching out to wipe it away with her thumb.

Harry wriggled away from her, and Sirius chuckled and pulled his nephew into a hug, "Leave him alone, Maia," he told her over the top of Harry's head, as they all laughed at Harry's disgust.

When all the goodbyes had been said, they apparated to the ministry – Maia had said there was no way she was going to use the floo network and risk being covered in soot. When they got there, Sirius led the way to the right place, followed by Remus, and James hesitated, looking at his wife.

"What?" she asked, glancing from Sirius and Remus' backs to James, whose eyes travelled up and down her body, noticing that her dress was more fitted than her usual clothes and cut lower than anything she usually wore. She was wearing his gift, and it suited her very well. He loved when her hair was down, rather than the pinned up style she wore for work, and usually the rest of the day when she got home. Her red lipstick was very distracting, pulling all of his attention to it, and he cleared his throat when he met her eyes.

"You look beautiful," he said, full of sincerity.

Maia smiled brightly, slightly taken aback. She was used to compliments from her very biased husband but usually when they were messing about, or usually followed immediately by a kiss, not this staring into her eyes.

He chuckled at her expression and reached out push a curl of hair away from her face, revealing a sparkling earring, and moved his hand to her cheek, the back of her hand brushing her cheek gently. "You _are_ beautiful."

Maia leaned in and pressed a short but sweet kiss to his lips, her lipstick now having set so it didn't leave a mark on him. "You look very handsome tonight," she told him when they broke apart, "now, come on, I suppose we should catch up."

James offered his arm out to her and she slid her hand through it, resting it on his arm as they started to walk to the right room, catching up to Sirius and Remus quickly. The room was the same huge, elaborately decorated room as every year, and a glass of champagne was provided on entry.

Almost as soon as they'd entered, people were coming over to greet them. Maia had been to enough of these events to know how they worked, and they were as much about networking as celebrating Christmas, especially for those in high positions, such as James.

She'd been stuck in many conversations with James' colleagues and knew by now who was good company and who wasn't. She knew the exact expression on his face that said "come and save me" if she was halfway across the room and he was stuck with someone, and she knew whose invitations to dance she wouldn't mind accepting. These events were filled with so much alcohol that the ministry staff and their guests soon became lively. All the office tensions flowed out and everyone seemed to flirt with everyone. They often saw very little of Sirius since he was so busy flirting with everyone. James was usually on high alert for anyone flirting with his wife, introducing her to everyone he spoke to, and never letting too many people dance with her before he got hold of her again.

Almost as soon as they'd walked through the door, Sirius took hold of Remus' sleeve and dragged him towards the bar at the other end of the room, leaving Maia and James with the approaching Minister for Magic and his wife. Thankfully the minister didn't linger too long, soon moving on to the next people who walked through the door, and James took hold of Maia's hand, searching for a decent table to hover near, and someone worth speaking to.

They passed a few people who nodded and said hello to James but didn't linger – obviously not particularly close acquaintances, Maia thought. They stopped to talk to Bertha Jorkins, of the Department of Magical Sports and Games, who had been at school with them. She always managed to apprehend them, stopping to reminisce about the days they were at school together.

When they escaped from her, Maia drained her complimentary champagne and looked up at James, "Well, looks like I need a new drink."

James nodded and tugged her towards the bar, where he saw Sirius leaning against it, surveying the whole room, whilst Remus looked around, a little uncomfortable. On their way to the bar, James brushed past a chair only for its occupant to turn around and look after him, "Ah, Potter!"

James stopped in his tracks and realised he was looking at one of his aurors – John Dawlish – and in fact, Dawlish was sitting at the table with two other aurors – Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Hello team," James grinned at his colleagues – he was very fond of Tonks of course, who had become his protegee and looked up to him greatly. Shacklebolt was a very talented wizard, very funny and personable, and James was sure he'd go far. Dawlish was also excellent at his job, but perhaps lacked personality. Tonks looked thrilled at their arrival and rose to her feet with the two men to greet them.

They all replied with a cheery hello and James looked at his wife, still holding her hand, and gesturing at his colleagues, "You remember my wife, Maia?"

Tonks and Kingsley exchanged smirks – no-one who regularly saw James Potter could forget his wife or children. There were photos of them on his desk and he never failed to share his son's latest achievements, or his daughter's most amusing antics. It wasn't uncommon for he and Sirius to talk about their mutual family at work, and no-one was unaware of his devotion to his wife. Kingsley had only met her a couple of times but Dawlish, who had been in the department longer than James, had met her more times.

James continued, "Maia, John Dawlish, of course-"

Dawlish smiled at her, his eyes taking a moment to rake over her. Of all the people she'd met at the ministry, John Dawlish made eyes at her like no-one else did. Everyone else she met was simply friendly, or doing the rounds of flattering the wives of anyone who had any influence at the ministry.

"And Kingsley Shacklebolt."

Kingsley smiled at her warmly, "Nice to see you again, Mrs Potter."

Grinning at his protegee, James squeezed Maia's hand, "And there's no need to introduce you to-"

Maia interrupted him, letting go of James' hand and moving forward to embrace her cousin, "Tonks, lovely to see you," she said, resting her hands on the younger woman's upper arms and kissing her cheek, then leaning back to hold her at arms length and fingering a lock of her hair, "you look wonderful, this is a lovely colour on you."

Tonks beamed at her, "Thanks, you look great too."

Satisfied that Maia was happy where she was, James went off to fetch them both a drink. Maia and the three aurors took a seat at the table and as Maia asked Tonks how she was, and how her Christmas day had been, the two men struck up conversation, and Maia's eyes wandered towards the huge space created in the middle of the room for dancing. Several couples were already up dancing, and Maia loved to dance, though the ministry ball was the only real occasion for dancing, she thought. Maybe she should do more dancing around her own house – real dancing, not just messing about with Sirius.

After she and Tonks had recounted their stories about Christmas day to each other, they joined in conversation with the other two, and as the current song the band was playing ended and a new one started, people started swapping partners and taking up position for the next song.

This event always had lots of dancing and some of it seemed political – the minister was always seen mixing with his female department heads, and the wives of the male department heads, ensuring no-one was left out. Other people did the same, making sure to dance with anyone who might come in handy to them, or their wives, while other people spent the whole night with their own department, some couples only stuck with each other. Some people, who'd been coming to the balls for years, knew exactly who their favourite people were, and who to stick to if they wanted a good time. The wives and husbands of ministry workers knew exactly who to talk to an dance with when their partners were stuck in work conversations.

"Mrs Potter, would you like to dance?" Dawlish asked Maia.

Maia had never come to a ministry ball without dancing with Dawlish, and she didn't mind him. He was a little dull, but nice enough, and she accepted the invitation. It was fun being out on the dance-floor. Everyone around them was having fun and as she and Dawlish waltzed amicably, they whirled past Sirius and Amelia Bones – head of magical law enforcement, and a very talented and well respected witch.

When Maia and Dawlish rejoined the table, Maia accepted a drink from her husband, kissing his cheek in thanks. Remus had joined their table now and Kingsley had left – Maia glanced back at the dancefloor to see him stood off to the side, deep in conversation with someone.

Before she knew it, she was dancing a lot. She danced with James a few times and Remus several more, as well as Sirius when he wasn't scanning the room for beautiful single witches. Maia danced with the minister, once with Kingsley, and then went to sit down and rest her feet.

Tonks came to join her, and Maia smiled fondly at her cousin.

James and Remus were again standing by the bar, and they appeared to be engaged in conversation with Barty Crouch from International Magical Co-operation, so she knew they wouldn't be getting out of that any time soon.

"Sirius seems to be having a good time," Tonks commented, gesturing at the man, who was talking to a young pretty witch with dark hair and glasses, but Maia wasn't sure of her name.

"Good," Maia said, "it's about time he settled down really. He's never had a girlfriend for more than a couple of months, you know. It'd be good if he finally found himself someone nice. I'm starting to think that he'll never move out. Not that we mind, of course, it's not like we don't have the room."

"What about Remus?" Tonks asked curiously, glancing over at the man and then quickly back at her cousin.

Maia nodded, trying to cover up her smirk by raising her glass to her lips and taking a sip, "It's been a while since he had a girlfriend, too, as far as I know."

Tonks seemed to be making an effort to keep a straight face. Maia smirked – she _knew_ it. She'd voiced her suspicions to James that the young auror might have a little crush on Remus, but James had dismissed her, citing different personalities and the age gap. Maia didn't think either of these were brilliant reasons really.

"Don't you like to dance, anyway?" Maia asked, pointing towards the dance-floor, "I haven't seen you up there yet!"

Tonks shrugged, "I don't know. I wasn't even going to come tonight but James said it wouldn't be too bad, and I thought, since you were going to be here, it would be ok. I don't really know that many people outside the auror office so …"

"Of course," Maia murmured, "this is your first christmas ball. _Well_, all you need to know is, there's no limit to the alcohol flowing at the bar, do _not_ get trapped in conversation with old Barty Crouch, if you dance with Perkins you'll have bruised feet tomorrow, everyone in the auror office is fine – but you know that already, oh the Unspeakables are amusing company-"

Maia found herself to be having a good time really, and when James and Remus rejoined them, she decided it would be her mission that Remus and Tonks shared at least one dance before the night was free.

This turned out to be fairly easy to engineer – it merely involved a certain song beginning to play and Tonks' face lighting up. Clearly it was a song that she loved. James stood up and held out his hand to his wife, "Well, we can't sit this one out, can we? Come on."

Maia grinned, taking his hand and standing up, "Absolutely, I love this, don't you, Tonks? We won't be long."

As James whisked her away, Maia tried to glance over her shoulder at the pair they'd left sitting down but there were people in the way and she couldn't quite make them out. However, as they took up positions, Maia spied them a short distance away. Remus' cheeks were a little pink as he took hold of one of Tonks' hands and gingerly laid the other on her waist, keeping a respectable distance between them. They looked quite sweet, Maia thought. Of course when James asked her what she was smirking about, she didn't reply, instead giving him her full attention.

"Are you enjoying yourself, love?" James asked, deftly spinning her under his arm.

"I am," she replied as she span back towards him, "I haven't been trapped in _nearly_ as many boring conversations as usual, despite the fact that Sirius is off dancing with anyone and everyone. It's probably because this year I've got Tonks and Moony."

"_I'm_ here," James pointed out.

"I know," Maia replied, "but you're always in such high demand – everyone wants to speak to you."

"You think _you're_ not in high demand?" James scoffed as they span past a short, squat witch dressed all in pink, dancing with the minister, who looked pretty unhappy, "for every boring conversation with a ministry official that I get pulled into, some man comes along and sweeps you off for a dance."

"You almost sound _jealous_," Maia told him, her expression giving nothing away but her voice full of teasing.

"Not jealous," James replied, "it's not as if you'd ever look at any of them twice."

When the dance was over, James smiled at her, leaning down to plant a lingering kiss on her lips. Maia felt her heart race a little – the kiss was perhaps more lingering than was fully appropriate in front of so many people, and she knew her cheeks were burning a little. James chuckled at her and spotting Sirius finally not flirting with a woman, but instead standing alone, walked towards him.

Maia spotted Tonks and Remus edging back to a table, both looking quite pleased – Remus was lit up in a way she'd never really seen. But maybe she was just imagining it, she thought.

"Having a good night, mate?" James asked his brother-in-law, slapping a hand to his back.

Sirius nodded, "Yeah, good, good. Got trapped in a conversation with old Perkins earlier, which went on forever, but apart from that … I was just having a chat with Bagman, he's gone to the bar for us."

"And who have you got your eye on tonight?" Maia asked, rolling her eyes though she looked amused.

Sirius smirked, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sirius-"

Sirius cut her off, "I am well and truly avoiding Amelia Runcorn. Managed to get Madam Bones up for a dance-"

"You leave Amelia Bones _alone_," Maia said, shaking her head, "she's a very well respected woman."

James scoffed, "As if she'd ever look at him twice. She doesn't have time for flirting with old dogs like this-"

Sirius playfully shoved James in the shoulder, but James was unfazed. Sirius answered, "I was having a lovely chat with a pretty red-head in maintenance if you must know and-"

"Black, here you go!" interrupted a voice as a figure appeared at Sirius' shoulder holding two glases. Sirius turned around and grinned at the man, taking a glass from him. Maia smiled instantly on seeing the man too.

Ludo Bagman was grinning broadly as he noticed the Potters and he exclaimed, "Ah, Potter! Good to see you. I was going to come over and say hello earlier but you were with Crouch, so I thought I'd hang on a bit."

James grinned, "Fair enough. Good to see you. Haven't seen you in a while – I suppose you've been busy, sorting everything out since you lot won the bid for the quidditch world cup!"

Ludo grinned, his boyish face lighting up as they shook hands heartily, "You know how it is, always busy, always working." He then turned his attention to Maia, and smiled at her broadly, "Maia! Lovely to see you, as always!"

He stepped forwards to greet her happily, leaning down to plant a kiss on her cheek, "How are you? How are the kids?"

Maia nodded, "I'm good, the kids are doing great. Harry's gone to Hogwarts this time, so it's lovely to have him back for Christmas. I'll miss him when he goes again. And my daughter … well, she's wild but she's good. She's jealous as hell that she can't go to Hogwarts for a while."

Ludo shrugged, "It won't be long before she can go, will it? Good to hear you're all doing well. Your brother tells me that young Harry made the quidditch team in his first year! Even more impressive than Diggory's boy, and we're _always_ hearing about him."

"Sirius tells everyone about Harry and the quidditch team," James replied.

"So do you!" Sirius pointed out.

As James and Sirius started to bicker amongst themselves, Ludo put his drink down and held his hand out to Maia, "Are we dancing then, Mrs Potter, or have you had enough yet?"

"Let's go," she replied, taking his hand and allowing herself to be led onto the dance-floor and pulled into Ludo Bagman's arms. Bagman was not especially tall, though still taller than Maia, and a stocky man. He had a boyish round face, though his nose was misshapen and had clearly been broken a few times, a full head of blonde hair and always wore a smile.

Maia had admired him back when he was a top quidditch player, even playing for England, as had Sirius and James. When he'd joined the ministry, they'd quickly tried to befriend him as fellow sport enthusiasts, and whenever Maia saw him, they got on well.

Bagman liked to flirt, but Maia certainly didn't mind, and she was probably guilty of indulging him too. If anyone had asked James, he would have said she was _definitely_ guilty.

"I was worried I'd miss out on dancing with you tonight," Ludo told her, his usual grin plastered on.

Maia raised her eyebrows as they whirled past the Edgecombes, "Oh?"

He nodded, "Mmm, haven't seen too much of you. I suppose that husband of yours sensibly won't let you out of his sight."

Maia scoffed, "That's _not_ how it works. I've danced with everyone, I'll have you know. Except Perkins, thankfully."

Ludo smirked, "Lucky you. I've been doing the rounds, but you're always one of my favourites – one of the ones who can actually dance, and not one of the boring ones who just refuses."

"Not _everyone_ is boring," Maia replied.

"They _are_," he replied, "Fudge's wife is a bore. So is Crouch's. And Diggory's. And they're all so _old_. And not half as pretty as you."

Across the room, James sighed dramatically, nudging Tonks, as she and Remus had just joined he and Sirius. Sirius and Remus were deep in conversation, and Tonks looked up at James, confused by his snort.

James, seeing her confusion, pointed slightly towards Maia and Bagman, "She's blushing," he said, sounding very much like it was something he'd seen before.

"Is she?" Tonks asked innocently, looking at the pair. There was no denying that they were having fun. Maia's cheeks did look a little pink, but she could be warm – she'd danced so much. Bagman threw his head back and laughed, and Maia laughed along with him.

James shrugged, "She fancies him."

Tonks shook her head, knowing exactly how in love her cousin and her mentor were, "No, I'm sure-"

Laughing, James cut her off, taking a big swig of his drink and then saying, "It's fine. She's always a bit of a thing for him. Even before we were married, when he was playing for the Wasps. He's her … I don't know, celebrity crush, I guess."

Tonks pondered this, watching them both, "Don't you worry-?"

She didn't finish the sentence and she didn't need to. James looked unfazed and he even smiled as he shook his head, "No. She just thinks he's handsome and all that, is all. He _is_ very charismatic. They only see each other once a year and … well, you've seen us together."

Tonks nodded, slightly amused at finding out this new fact about her cousin. It was strange to think of Ludo Bagman, this man who worked at the ministry, as a big quidditch star and celebrity. It was even stranger to think of Maia Potter looking at anyone besides her husband.

"Quidditch players have always been her type," James continued, "should have seen her at school – she never had a boyfriend who wasn't a quidditch player."

Turning his attention to his wife, he saw she and Bagman still laughing away, and when the song ended, they decided to stay and dance to another. When that one was over, Bagman leaned down to kiss her cheek – landing a little too close to the corner of her mouth, James thought – and then they both came back over to the group, Bagman's hand in the small of Maia's back, and standing close behind her.

When the evening came to a close and they all went home, it was very 'd spent a long time saying goodbye to everyone, and Maia was dying to throw her shoes off and get in bed after checking on the children.

James followed her and they very quietly pushed open Lyra's bedroom door to see her sleeping soundly. Harry and Ron were the same, and satisfied, Maia turned to go to her own room.

She found James walking very close behind her and he wound an arm around her waist, ushering her into their room. Once there, he closed the door behind her and when she tried to walk towards their ensuite, he kept his arm around her waist and pulled her back to him.

"Did you enjoy yourself tonight?" he asked, leaning down so his breath tickled her ear.

Maia, thoroughly distracted by the current situation as her hands came up to rest on his arm and chest, nodded, "Mmm, it was good."

"You were having a good times with Bagman," James said, pulling her closer against him and shifting so his lips brushed her skin with every word.

"I danced with lots of people," she replied, trying to shift back a little so she could look up into his eyes but finding that his hold on her wasn't really allowing it.

"He kissed you," James whispered.

"Plenty of people kissed my cheek," Maia told him, slightly confused, "That's how people say hello? _Oh! _Are you being jealous and possessive?"

With slightly more force than he would usually use, James put his fingers under her chin and tiled her face up so he could look at her. He looked into her eyes for a few seconds then down at her lips, before leaning in to kiss her, harder than usual. She responded in kind but was slightly breathless by the time they pulled apart.

"I do love you," James told her, reaching behind himself with one hand to hit the lightswitch.

"I know," Maia replied, letting out a noise of surprise as he tugged her towards their bed and kissed her again as her legs hit the back of it. This time when they broke apart, she licked her lips, "I love you too."

"Oh, I know."


	10. Valentine's Day and Quidditch

**Just to answer a few questions: I will probably include the dragon and the forest and not just skip to the end of the year, but I will be skimming over some things a bit.**

**As for if I'd thought of doing a version where James and Maia died in the original story: I hadn't thought about it but it's a good idea so I might do! In my mind, if James and Maia had died, Regulus would have brought Harry up, or maybe Sirius depending on whether he'd gone after Peter and been framed like in the books, so a lot would have been different from the books.**

* * *

Chapter Ten

Before Maia could believe it, she was sending her son back off to school.

The rest of the Christmas holidays seemed to have gone far too slowly for her liking, but had been very enjoyable nonetheless. New Year's Eve was a fun family occasion – Regulus, Andromeda, Ted and Nymphadora all came around to celebrate and there was music, food, drinks and fireworks.

It was the first time Harry had met Nymphadora Tonks and first time in his memory that he had met Andromeda and Ted. It was also the first time Nymphadora and Regulus had met, and the first time in many years that Regulus and Andromeda had seen each other.

Harry immediately liked the Tonks family – in particular, the young auror had entertained him with a few of her best metamorphagus tricks, with Lyra chipping in and asking for her favourites. Andromeda and Ted made polite conversation with him but Neville was sleeping over, so the children mainly went off to play by themselves.

Nymphadora didn't seem to know what to say to Regulus, and Maia couldn't blame her. Regulus hardly invited conversation, much to her exasperation. Her younger brother could be charming and everything else if he tried, but he mainly stuck to talking to Maia at first. His greetings to Andromeda and Ted were civil enough but he didn't know how to talk to them.

Eventually, things became more relaxed and Regulus participated a little more in the conversation – it was difficult not to take part around such lively characters as the rest of the family.

By midnight they were having fireworks in the gardens and ringing in 1992. Andromeda and Ted went home not long after and the children went up to bed, but the party continued for the adults well into the morning, with both Tonks and Regulus sleeping over.

The few days between New Years and Harry going back to school were quiet but Maia loved each one of them and was feeling quite sad when the time came to take Harry back to King's Cross.

It was a Sunday morning so the whole household went to the train station, wrapped up warm against the chilly January morning.

Maia drew her winter cloak tighter around herself as she led the way, walking between Harry and Ron, chatting away happily enough though wishing she could keep her son at home for longer. Behind them James was pushing a trolley with the boys' luggage on, Lyra at his side, cooing at Hedwig, and Sirius and Remus bringing up the rear.

When they reached the barrier between platforms nine and ten, Maia rested a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Alright, after you?" she asked.

Harry looked far more confident than the first time they had taken this same journey, and he and Ron strode through the barrier together. Maia followed them, appearing on the platform between them and soon followed by the others.

The scarlet steam train was already waiting and other pupils were saying goodbye to their parents and boarding. Reluctantly, Maia glanced towards the train then to the luggage on the trolley James was pushing.

"Right boys," she said with a smile, "shall we get your luggage on for you? Come on, James."

There wasn't time to linger much after getting the luggage onto one of the carriages, and around them the other pupils were boarding the train.

Maia bit her lip as she looked at her son – the holidays had gone far too quickly and she knew she should feel better about this given they'd already spent a term apart and she knew he had fun at school, had plenty of friends, and had his uncle around to keep an eye on him.

"You should probably get on the train," she said, a false cheeriness in her voice that her children didn't pick up on but the adults did.

Harry nodded, glancing at the clock and feeling reluctant to leave his family again after having such a good time over Christmas, "Suppose so."

Maia reached out to pull him into a hug, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly, swaying them from side to side, "Have a good term," she told him when she eventually let go of him.

Harry's cheeks were pink with embarrassment as he fought not to look at Ron, but Ron didn't seem fazed. His mother would have done exactly the same. He didn't have much time to breathe before his father engulfed him in a bear hug, clapping him on the back and telling him to look after himself. Remus was next, then Sirius.

"Ok," Maia said, turning to both boys and finding this just as hard as it had been in September, "so have a good term, watch what you're doing. Look after yourselves – and Neville – and for Merlin's sake, stay out of trouble this time."

"I will," Harry said.

"I _mean_ it," Maia said, "I don't want to hear anything about you fighting trolls, or .. or – well _I _don't know, but just stay out of trouble please."

At her side, James nodded firmly, "As cool as fighting a fully grown mountain troll is, just save us the grey hairs and stay out of trouble."

Sirius smirked, "Real trouble anyway. No-one's going to begrudge you sneaking out for a midnight snack but-"

"Sirius-" Maia started sharply.

Sirius cut her off with a laugh, "What? I'm telling him the same as you are – don't get into big trouble."

"I won't get into any trouble," Harry said loudly, cutting across all of them and ending the debate.

Maia nodded, unable to stop herself leaning down and pulling him in for another hug, this one longer than the last, and kissing his cheek when she finally let go of him. "We'll see you in a few months then. Don't forget to write to us," she told him, already feeling tears well up in her eyes and determined not to cry in front of him. "We'll miss you."

James hugged Harry again, and Maia turned to Ron, also telling him to be careful and have a good time at school, and Ron thanked her for having him and assured her that he'd had a very fun holiday.

"See you soon, sweetie," Maia smiled as Harry took a step backwards from them, towards the train, "I love you."

"Love you too, Mum," Harry said, cheeks burning as he glanced at Ron again.

They shouted their goodbyes after Harry and Ron until they were on the train and it wasn't long before the whistle sounded. Halfway down the platform, Maia saw Neville jump on the train just before it started to move, and his exasperated grandmother was shouting after him. Maia called her godson's name and wave at him too as the train started to move.

A minute later, the train had pulled out of sight and Harry was gone. Maia let out a sigh, wrapping her arms around herself and feeling rather deflated. Tears were in her eyes but she swallowed hard, refusing to let them fall. Behind her, Lyra was already chattering away about how she wanted to go to Hogwarts, but Maia wasn't really listening. Remus glanced at James and Maia, and took it upon himself to wrap an arm around his little goddaughter and start walking towards the entrance back to the muggle train station.

"Are you alright?" James asked at Maia's side as she hadn't moved.

Maia nodded, "I didn't think it would be as hard as the first time."

"I know," James replied, stepping closer and holding out his hand, "but you know he'll be fine."

Maia swallowed hard, blinking away the tears that had formed and put her hand in her husband's, "I know," she said, "but .. I miss him _so_ much."

James closed his fingers around hers and squeezed her hand reassuringly, tugging her closer to him, "I miss him too but he wasn't too much trouble in the first term – apart from the troll - and at least he's made friends and everything, and he's the youngest seeker in a century, and he's doing _well_."

"I know," Maia replied.

James smiled slightly and drew her even closer, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead, "At least we've still got Lyra at home for a couple of years."

Maia sighed, shaking her head, "_Don't. _I can't imagine Lyra going off to school too and it just being us all year round."

James secretly hoped that by the time Lyra went off to school in 18 months or so, they'd have another child, but wasn't sure it was the moment to mention it.

He raised his eyebrows at her, "There's no need to sound so sad about it just being _us_, you know. I assure you I'm good company. Besides, we'll still have Padfoot and Moony – I can't imagine either of them moving out any time soon."

Maia thought he was probably right. Sirius would probably be a bachelor forever, although Maia wished he'd settle down, and Remus was too harsh on himself and probably wouldn't try to pursue anyone without considerable encouragement from the others. Maia thought briefly of Tonks – she didn't care _what_ James said, they had a connection.

"Don't be sad," James told her, glancing after Remus, Sirius and Lyra, "we have to go to work tomorrow, but we can spend the rest of our weekend with our daughter, and Harry will be back before we know it. "

Maia nodded in agreement and they started to walk away, James slipping an arm around her waist. Looking at her daughter's back, Maia looked up at her husband, "It won't just be me crying when she goes off to school, you know."

"I don't cry," James scoffed.

"You will, for her."

* * *

Harry's first few weeks back at Hogwarts were very busy – the teachers seemed to be working them harder than they had in the first term, and Wood was working the team harder than ever before too.

In their spare time, he, Ron, Hermione and Neville had been skimming books to find a mention of Nicholas Flamel. One quick conversation with Hermione on the train back up to the school confirmed that none of them were any closer to finding out who Nicholas Flamel was, and they were all giving up hope of ever finding out who he was.

Hermione had been dismayed at failing to find something in a book, and she'd also been disappointed that Harry hadn't found out anything at home. Harry had pointed out that there would have been too many follow up questions if he'd asked his parents or uncles – he would have ended up having to explain about the three-headed dog, and his mother would have had a heart attack.

With all the work they had, quidditch was the only fun thing really happening and it was almost February when Wood broke some unexpected news to the Gryffindor quidditch team during one very muddy and wet practise.

Wood was at his wits end with the Weasley twins, who kept dive-bombing and pretending to fall off their brooms.

He yelled, "Will you two stop messing around?! You'll end up losing us the match! Black's refereeing this time, and if we beat Hufflepuff, we'll overtake Slytherin! He'll be looking for an excuse to take points off us!"

This was met with silence. Professor Black was competitive and loved quidditch, and although his favouritism towards Slytherin house wasn't usually too bad, he was unlikely to be fair when the Gryffindor team had a chance of overtaking his own team in the league. The rest of the team then began to complain loudly about how Black wouldn't be impartial, and Wood loudly tried to calm them down, pointing out that Black's own nephew was their star seeker, and that had to count for something.

Harry merely frowned. He wasn't worried, as the others were, about how fair the game would be, but instead wondered _why_ his uncle would be refereeing the match. As far as he knew, Madam Hooch always refereed.

He wondered if it had anything to do with his last quidditch match, where his broomstick had been dangerously jinxed, and he still didn't know the cause of it, though his uncle had told him not to worry, and they'd agreed not to tell his parents. Maybe Regulus was worried that it would happen again and wanted to referee so he could keep a close eye on everything. Either way, it didn't quite sit right with him.

In the common room after practise, Harry told Ron and Hermione this news. Neville, for some reason, was absent and neither Ron nor Hermione was quite sure why – he'd gone to the owlery, they supposed.

"Why does Professor Black have a sudden desire to become a quidditch referee?" Ron frowned.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Isn't it _obvious_? He wants to keep an eye on Harry, after the last match. Harry if you're worried, you could just go and talk to him – he _is_ your uncle."

Before anyone could say anything more, the portrait hole swung open and Neville toppled into the room. His legs were stuck together with that Harry recognised as a Leg-Locker curse, and poor Neville must have had to hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower.

The whole room fell about laughing but Hermione immediately leapt up and performed the counter-curse, catching Neville under his elbow just as he was about to fall and pulling him towards the group.

Neville sank into a chair and Ron demanded, "What happened?"

"Malfoy," Neville said shakily, "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practise that on."

"You should report that," Hermione said firmly, "go to Professor McGonagall!"

"I don't want the trouble," he mumbled, avoiding everyone's eyes.

"You've got to stand up to him!" Ron urged, "he's used to walking all over people but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."

"I already know I'm not brave enough to be a Gryffindor!" Neville choked, looking very much like he was about to cry.

Harry sighed and felt into the pocket of his robes, pulling out a Chocolate Frog and handing it to Neville, "You're worth twelve of Malfoy," he said, "the Sorting Hat put you in Gryffindor, didn't it? And Malfoy's in stinking Slytherin."

Neville's lips twitched into a smile as he unwrapped the frog, "Thanks Harry," he mumbled.

Harry added, "And if you don't want to tell McGonagall, you could always tell my Mum. She'd be straight round to give the Malfoys a piece of her mind."

Neville smiled a little more – he knew his godmother was fiercely protective of her children, and of him too. Merlin knew he'd seen her get into enough disagreements with his grandmother.

"I mught go to bed," Neville sighed, holding out the Chocolate Frog card to Harry, "here, d'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?"

Harry took the card with a nod and looked down at it, "Dumbledore again," he said, "I've 7 of-" He broke off with a gasp, suddenly remembering something and he turned the card over to stare at the back of it, "Neville, don't go to bed yet, sit down. I've _found him!"_

"Found him?" Ron asked eagerly.

"Flamel," Harry continued, "I knew I'd seen the name somewhere before – I've seen it on a Chocolate Frog card before. Listen - "Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicholas Flamel"!"

Hermione leapt to her feet, commanding them to stay where they were and ran up to the girls' dormitory. The three boys barely had time to exchange confused looks when Hermione returned with an enormous book in her arms.

"I took his out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading," she explained, "but I never thought to look in here."

After some frantic flicking through the pages, she finally found what she was looking for, and told them in a dramatic whisper, "Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone."

When it didn't have the effect she'd clearly expected, Hermione showed the boys a passage from the book to explain. Harry stared – apparently, the Philosopher's Stone had the ability to transform any metal into pure gold, and produced the Elixir of Life, which would make the drinker immortal. Flamel himself was 665 years old!

"See?" Hermione whispered, "the dog must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it. That's why he wanted it moved out of Gringotts!"

"A stone that makes gold and stops you ever dying," Harry said, "no-one someone's after it. Anyone would want it."

"Maybe we should just forget about all this," Neville said quietly – he'd never really been on board from the beginning.

The others were far too busy thinking about what they'd do with a Philosopher's Stone if they had one, to pay attention to Neville.

* * *

Maia's initial sadness at her son going back to school began to fade as the time passed and before she knew it, it was February, and Harry had been gone again for a full month.

One Friday afternoon in early February, Maia was sitting in the living room with a piece of parchment on her lap – a list of sums that Remus had set for Lyra to do.

Maia had got home from work an hour ago and Remus was up in bed, sleeping off a full moon from the previous night, but had still set Lyra some work to do. Maia had got home to find Lyra grumbling over her sums, and her daughter was now lying on the sofa, watching Maia mark the work.

"I don't understand why I need to do sums," Lyra said with a frown, "I'm going to Hogwarts in a few years - won't I learn everything I need to know there?"

Maia smiled slightly, making another tick on the parchment with her long quill, "You'll learn how to make potions, look after magical plants and animals, use charms and transfigure things, all about our history, and the stars and muggles if you want, _but _you learn simple things like sums and reading long before you get to school. How will you add up all the money you earn when you leave school and get a job, if you don't learn your sums now? These are all right, by the way sweetie, well done."

"Thanks Mum," Lyra nodded, taking the parchment from her and glancing down it. When she put it aside, she said, "I'm going to have a cool job one day and lots of money to count."

"Cooler than your Dad and Uncle Sirius?" Maia asked in amusement, knowing just how much Lyra adored her dad and uncle and looked up to them. She was always asking them all about their job, and she'd always thought fighting the bad guys was the height of cool.

"Much cooler," Lyra announced, though she wasn't sure what it would be. Frowning, she asked, "What's the coolest job you can think of?"

Maia thought about it for a second and replied, "Dragon handler, hands down."

Lyra nodded thoughtfully, "That _does _sound cool."

A sudden noise in the kitchen distracted them both and Maia glanced at the clock, knowing it would be her husband home from work, and slightly later than usual.

She didn't rise to her feet, tired from a long week at work, but Lyra did, running into the kitchen. Maia closed her eyes and leaned back against the sofa and she heard the noises coming from the other room – Lyra was enthusiastically greeting her dad, and Maia heard the voices of Sirius and Tonks too. She'd quite forgotten that Tonks was supposed to be coming around for dinner and a few drinks, as she did every now and then.

"Where's your mum?" she heard James ask from the hallway, and a moment later he appeared in the doorway, smiling brightly.

Maia smiled at him slightly, "Hi."

"You look knackered," James told her, tossing his cloak over the back of the sofa, then leaning over her to kiss her in greeting.

"Thanks," Maia said, rolling her eyes as he sat down beside her.

"Long day?" he asked.

"Long week," she replied. She'd worked longer hours than usual over the last couple of days, trying to help a man with a very nasty bite, and covering the work of two of her juniors who had wrote in sick. "How was your day? You're home a bit late."

It wasn't unusual for James to come home later, having had to stay to work through the mountains of paperwork that came with the job, but if Sirius and Tonks were late too, then something must have happened.

James shrugged, "It was nothing. Arthur Weasley was doing a raid – some guy suspected of selling dark objects to muggles. He came by to tell us, warned that he might need someone to check out the goods afterwards and well ..."

"You and Sirius couldn't resist going along on the raid," Maia finished for him, "and you dragged Tonks along with you."

"It was fun," James replied defensively, just as Sirius and Tonks entered the room, both with a loud cheery greeting for Maia, and followed by Lyra. Sirius and Tonks settled onto the sofa opposite the couple, and James reached out for Lyra, patting the sofa beside him. Lyra smiled and sat beside him, nestling into his side as he draped an arm over her shoulders.

"Dad, what's the coolest job you can think of?" Lyra asked.

"Lyra's decided she wants to have the coolest job in the world, so we're trying to decide what it is," Maia explained, smiling as James draped his free arm over her shoulders.

"Well, its an Auror of course," Sirius replied.

"Of course," James agreed, "or maybe a quidditch player."

"Or one of the weird sisters," Tonks offered.

"I'm sticking with dragon handler," Maia insisted.

"Ooh, can I change to dragon handler?" Sirius said quickly, "that does sound cool. Maybe you could be a quidditch-playing dragon-handling Auror?"

Lyra nodded, "I'll try."

Half an hour later, Maia was in the kitchen putting dinner out, and Tonks had followed her in to help her. Tonks was a nuisance in the kitchen, knocking things over and nearly burning herself on the oven, so Maia instead asked her to lay the table, which seemed like a task she couldn't mess up.

"Isn't Remus joining us?" Tonks asked as she counted the sets of cutlery in her hands.

"He's a bit under the weather," Maia replied, "he's taking a nap."

Tonks nodded, looking a little put out and sounding concerned as she said, "I hope it's nothing serious?"

"He'll be fine by tomorrow," Maia replied.

Tonks knew nothing about Remus being a werewolf.

When she'd first started coming to the house, she was merely an acquaintance so it didn't make sense to tell her, but now 5 months later, she'd become a friend and part of the family, and stopped by at least every fortnight, if not every week. James and Sirius saw her every day at work, and when she stopped by the house, Maia was always glad of a new female friend. Tonks was becoming like a little sister – someone to have a laugh with and talk to, but she felt a bit of responsibility towards her due to their age gap.

When she was merely an acquaintance, it hadn't made sense to tell her about Remus, but Maia knew they'd have to tell her eventually, but it would be down to Remus.

"Now, since those two aren't around," Maia started, clearly indicating her husband and brother, "it's Valentine's Day next week … any plans?"

Tonks shrugged, laying down the last set of cutlery, "Not really. I've never been big on Valentine's day."

"So you're not seeing anyone?" Maia asked, a mischievous smile tugging at her lips as she took the food out of the oven.

"You sound like my mother," Tonks replied, amused.

Maia shrugged, "I've always liked a bit of gossip. Sirius won't tell me much about his love life, although I know he's bound to be taking _someone _out. I'm sure he tells James, but he swears him to secrecy, and it's always ministry witches I only know in passing. Aren't there any handsome wizards who wanted to take you out?"

Tonks held her hands up with a smile, "I assure you, my love life is non-existent, and I'm fine with it. I've got enough on with work. What about you?"

"I was never too bothered about Valentine's Day either," Maia admitted, starting to plate up some of the food, "we can do out and do something nice on any day of the year, but James likes it, so we try and do something. We're going out for dinner this year – he won't tell me where though."

"He's actually rather romantic, isn't he?" Tonks said, screwing her nose up at the thought of the man she saw in the office every day being like this. Merlin knew she'd seen enough sweet moments at their house between he and his family, but it was still strange.

"He tries," Maia replied, "you know … don't tell James I told you, but on the night he proposed to me, I came home from shopping to find him standing in the kitchen surrounded by smoke, taking two lumps of charcoal out of the oven. He'd tried to make me a slap up meal and burnt the lot."

Tonks laughed and they were still laughing about it when James came into the room, with the distinct feeling that they were laughing at him.

Several days later, on Valentine's Day, Maia stood at the bottom of the staircase and wrapped her arms around her daughter. "Be good for Uncle Moony," she said when she pulled away, kissing her on the cheek and trying not to leave lipstick on her, "we'll see you in the morning."

"You look nice, Mum," Lyra said, earning herself a smile as James embraced her warmly.

"She does, doesn't she?" James grinned, "now, no funny business while we're gone, angel. I don't want to come home and find frogspawn in the bed or anything, you hear me?"

"Of course Dad," Lyra said, sounding incredibly innocent.

Maia turned to Remus, "Thanks for looking after her for us."

Remus gave her an incredibly disbelieving look, "Well I _do_ live here, and it's not like I was doing anything else tonight, is it? Enjoy yourselves."

As they left the house together, stepping into the chilly February air, James held out his hand to his wife, curling his fingers around her slender, cold digits, and suddenly realising that it wasn't really necessary for them to come outside.

"Where are we going?" Maia asked curiously.

"You'll see. Hold on," James told her, looking down at their joined hands and concentrating as he apparated them both to their destination. He kept a firm hold on Maia's hand and when they landed on their feet at their destination, he felt her sway on her feet and put an arm out to steady her.

"We're … in Hogsmeade," Maia said, looking around at her surroundings as she clutched his arm.

"We are," James replied, "you okay?"

Maia nodded, feeling steady now, and she removed her hand from its tight hold on James' arm, instead taking hold of the hand he now offered her. "I'm fine. So … where are we going?"

"There's a new place opened round the corner, just on the way out of the village, sort of hidden away," James told her as they started walking through the village, "Dawlish took his wife last week, said it was lovely."

"I thought perhaps, the Three Broomsticks," Maia said, pleased to find out they were going somewhere new – she loved going nice places and having her husband all to herself.

James shook his head, "Not for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner. I thought we could maybe call in for a few drinks afterwards though."

"Sounds lovely," Maia replied honestly, "as long as we're not going to Madam Puddifoot's, then I'm happy."

"Never," James grimaced. He'd taken a girl there in his fifth year at school, and Maia had gone on a date there during sixth year, and both had agreed it wasn't their scene – in fact, it had gained a reputation amongst the Gryffindors for being very uncool.

The restaurant was situated on a side street off the lane that led out of Hogsmeade – a road that Maia had rarely walked down, but it was well lit, and even in the dark, Maia felt safe enough.

When they turned down the side street and got closer to the restaurant, Maia saw it had little fairy lights around the window, giving off a warm glow. From the outside, it looked lovely, with the name of the restaurant written above it in elegant, curvy writing.

"Here we are," James said.

"Looks nice," Maia replied as James rested a hand in the small of her back and ushered her into the restaurant in front of him. When they walked in, a smartly dressed, cheery older wizard approached, asking for their name and reservation, which James gave promptly.

The restaurant was busy, and the man led them to the only remaining empty table, pulling Maia's chair out for her. She took her seat with a thank-you and the wizard took their drinks order, handed them their menus and left them alone.

"This is lovely," Maia commented, looking around – the place was decorated like a little christmas grotto, with sparkling fairly lights, but in no way over-done and frilly like Madam Puddifoot's place. There was quiet classical music playing in the background and around them other couples were sharing a Valentine's day meal.

"I'm glad you like it," James said, "hope the food's good."

Maia nodded, looking around at their surroundings. They were surrounded by couples, and as James reached across the table to take her hand and started talking to her, Maia found herself not quite listening because a couple on the other side of the restaurant had caught her eye.

A man with longish dark hair, was pouring a glass of wine for himself, and then the woman sitting opposite him, black sleeves falling over his hand. Maia did a double take, realising that her brother Regulus was in the same restaurant, on a _date. _

She couldn't help but stare – he was wearing a pair of very smart robes and his hair looked more groomed than it usual did. He was dressed up, she thought, amused. The woman opposite him had dark skin, long dark hair, and wore a set of very pretty blue robes, and was altogether quite pretty. She was smiling at Regulus, who looked as though he were turning the charm on.

"Maia, are you listening?" James asked, forcing her to snap her attention back to him.

"You won't believe who's over there," Maia said in hushed tones, quite forgetting to apologise to James and ask him what he'd been saying.

James, intrigued, looked across the restaurant in the direction Maia had just been looking in and suddenly grinned gleefully as he turned back to face his wife. "Is that … _Regulus?"_

"Yep," Maia nodded with a matching grin.

James chuckled, "Regulus … on a date? On Valentine's day? Who's he with?"

"I don't know but she's pretty, isn't she? Where does he meet anyone, up at the school all year round?" Maia admitted, "He'll be hearing all about this at dinner on Sunday. Maybe we should go over there and say hi? Oh, she's looking, look away, look away."

James rolled his eyes at her, as they both looked away, "Very subtle there, darling," he told her, glancing back at his menu.

Regulus was very private about his love life, and his sister loved to nag and tease him, and she was feeling positively gleeful about seeing him here. She thought it was about time that one of her three brothers, by blood and otherwise, settled down, and it would especially nice if it was Regulus. She worried about him sometimes, off at the school by himself, and she knew he was charming and caring underneath the somewhat regal boredom he often put forward.

Meanwhile, on Regulus' side of the restaurant, a young serving witch had just brought a bottle of wine for he and his date, when the doors of the restaurant tingled as they opened and in walked a very familiar couple. Regulus was facing the door, and his date had her back to it, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Dread filled him as he watched his sister and brother-in-law walk into the restaurant and be led to a table on the other side of the room. As usual, at first they were too wrapped up in each other to notice anything else, and he hoped that they wouldn't notice him. He hated when Maia and Sirius asked about his love life and he certainly didn't want to spend his date knowing she was there, wondering if she was looking over, and knowing she was going to tease him the next time she saw him.

"Regulus?" asked the woman across the table, making him realise he'd been staring. He very quickly looked back at her and silently cursed himself when he saw she was looked in the direction he had just been. "Is everything alright?" she asked, "do you know them?"

"No, no, not at all," Regulus said quickly, picking up their bottle of wine and trying to distract her.

Aurora Sinistra looked at him suspiciously, still eyeing the couple who had just walked in. They looked familiar, she thought, though she couldn't quite decide why she thought so, and it was difficult to make them out properly since they were now both sitting down, and there were several couples in between them, not to mention the somewhat dim lighting.

Aurora narrowed her eyes at her companion – he seemed a little flustered as he poured their wine quickly, almost spilling some of his on the tablecloth, which was rather uncharacteristic. She'd sat a few seats down from him at the teacher's table up at the school for a few years now, and Regulus Black was always very put together. The expression on his face when they'd walked in had definitely said something was wrong.

"Are you sure?" she asked, half confused and half amused.

"Of course," Regulus said smoothly, eager to get on with his date and pretend that his big sister wasn't also here, observing his first date with the woman. He pushed Aurora's wine glass towards her to distract her, "there you go."

A few moments later, Aurora felt a pair of eyes watching her and she looked over to the table where the couple she'd caught Regulus staring at, were sitting. The woman was looking right at her, but immediately looked away when she'd been caught looking. The woman was whispering rapidly at the man, who smirked, also looking in their direction and looking away.

"Regulus, are you sure you don't know them?" Aurora asked the man sitting opposite her. She and the Potions Master had been flirting for a while, and this was their first date – not especially because it was Valentine's Day but it just happened that in trying to choose a night to go out on, they'd accidentally found this day to be most suitable for them both.

"Never seen them in my life," Regulus replied without looking at them, "you know, I think I'll have the steak."

"Well, for people you've never met, they keep looking over here," Aurora countered, thinking about how highly odd this was. Observing the couple, she became even more intrigued. The woman wore luxurious robes of purple, had curly dark hair and even her profile screamed aristocracy – high cheekbones, a defined jawline, a thin nose, porcelain skin. The man sitting opposite her had very untidy black hair and circular glasses – both appeared to be in their early thirties.

Suddenly, Aurora realised she'd seen them before – not in person, but plastered across the Daily Prophet, most recently a couple of weeks ago, when the section filled with celebrity news and gossip had featured pictures of them dropping their son Harry off at King's Cross for the new term. She remembered Regulus scoffing into his pumpkin juice and remarking loudly that Mrs Potter would be very unimpressed to see herself in the celebrity gossip section again.

"Isn't that the Potters?" Aurora asked.

Regulus tried not to frown, knowing he'd been found out, and instead tried to act innocent, "Oh no, I shouldn't think so."

"Regulus, is that your sister?"

Regulus was fairly sure that there was no way out of this and he looked across the restaurant, scowling at his sister for daring to walk into the same restaurant as him, and admitted, "Erm … yes. Yes it is."

Across the restaurant, after giving their order to the waiter, Maia looked back over at her brother to see him looking at her, rather unimpressed. "He's seen us," she told James, with a grin, "oh look at him, he's so unimpressed. We really should go over there and say hello now, come on. "

Regulus tried not to sigh when he met Maia's eyes and she grinned at him, rising to her feet. _Great, _they were coming over. Act natural, he told himself. Just be nice and say hello, and then they'll go back to their own date and leave him alone, and they could all never speak of this again, and hopefully they wouldn't embarrass him too much. Aurora, for her part, just seemed amused.

Maia rose to her feet and held out her hand to James, taking hold of his hand and tugging him after her as they crossed the restaurant and came to stand beside Regulus' table.

Regulus couldn't possibly not be courteous to his sister and rose from his seat, "Sister, what a surprise it is to see you here," he said, leaning down to kiss one of her cheeks and then the other, then offering his hand out to James, shaking it firmly, "James, how are you?"

"What a surprise it is to see you here," Maia smiled, looking from Regulus to the woman, "I hope we're not interrupting."

Regulus raised his eyebrows at her, looking very much like he wanted to kill her, "We're in a nice place on Valentine's Day, of _course _you're interrupting, but never mind." Gesturing to the woman beside him, who had also stood up now, and revealed herself to be a tall, thin woman, he added, "This is Aurora Sinistra, she's the Astronomy Professor as Hogwarts. Aurora, my sister Maia, and my brother-in-law, James."

"Charmed," James grinned, taking hold of the hand Aurora extended.

"Nice to meet you," Maia added, clearly enjoying herself far too much for Regulus' liking, "I hope you're having a nice evening."

"Yes we are thanks, we were really enjoying our conversation," Regulus nodded, widening his eyes at her in some sort of signal that she should leave them alone.

"Perhaps we should leave you to it then," James suggested, resting a hand on Maia's arm.

"How's Harry?" Maia blurted out, before she could stop herself.

Despite his annoyance at seeing his sister here, Regulus softened at the mention of his nephew, "He's alright," he said, "I'll tell you all his latest antics at dinner on Sunday, don't worry."

"Well, I hope he's not too much of a bother," James grinned at the astronomy professor, who grinned back, shaking her head.

"Not at all," she said, "he's no bother."

"Right, well, have a good evening, see you Sunday," Regulus said quickly.

Neither Maia nor James could possibly be grinning wider, he thought, and it was all at his expense. They were incredibly amused to have seen him here on a date, and he knew he was never going to hear the end of it. Still, he seemed to be doing a good job of getting rid of them, so he and Aurora could get back to their date before they embarrassed him too much.

The way he brushed them off was so comical that Maia didn't quite know what to say and instead, she grinned at her brother, "Yes, maybe we should leave you to it. Have fun, little brother."

Regulus knew he was blushing when he and Aurora took their seats and the Potters left them to it, and too embarrassed to say anything, he took a sip of his wine.

Aurora smirked at him, raising her glass to her lips, taking a small sip and then telling him, "There's no need to be embarrassed and pretend not to know them – I think they're lovely."

"I'm not embarrassed," he said quickly.

"Of course not," Aurora replied, "you know, I think I'll have the steak too."

Two days later was Sunday and as soon as Regulus turned up on the doorstep, he was greeted and let into the house by his grinning sister. As soon as he entered the living room, his brother was grinning too, though Remus and James seemed at least able to control themselves.

"I hear you were on a date with a very pretty astronomy professor," Sirius said as soon as he saw his brother.

Regulus raised his eyebrows, "Really? You couldn't even wait until we'd said hello?"

"Yes, hello, so how was it? Tell us all about her," Sirius urged.

Regulus groaned, sinking down into an armchair, "Wouldn't you rather hear all about how I'm refereeing the next quidditch match. It's Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff."

"Why isn't-"

"She's ill," Regulus replied, preempting his sister's question about why Madam Hooch wasn't refereeing, "it's going to be a good game, I should say."

And with that, everyone was suitably distracted.

* * *

Harry's quidditch match was in the first week of March. He was feeling incredibly nervous about the match – Gryffindor's first chance to overtake Slytherin in the league for years. The rest of the team were worried that having the head of Slytherin house as the referee would make it biased, but Harry knew his uncle well enough to know that that wouldn't affect the situation, and he assured the Gryffindors that Regulus being his uncle would surely balance out any bias.

Since discovering the identity of Nicholas Flamel, Harry and his friends had given little more thought to it. Harry was convinced that someone was after the stone, and that was why it had been moved from Gringotts, but it was impossibly to say who it was.

At least Ron and Hermione had never tried to put his uncle under suspicion again. They had agreed that they'd obviously seen him going up to the corridor on Hallowe'en to check on the stone, or protect it or something, as one of several staff members doing so.

Harry hardly heard a word of Wood's pep talk as he pulled on his robes and picked up his broomstick, but Wood took him aside as they waited to go on the pitch. He advised Harry to catch the snitch as quick as possible before Regulus could favour the Hufflepuffs too much, but Harry told him he was sure his uncle would be fair.

When the team captains shook hands and the players all mounted their brooms, Regulus met his nephew's eyes. Harry felt himself relax as his uncle gave him the smallest of winks – there, he thought, he was going to be fair. Of course he was, Harry knew he'd be disappointed if Slytherin lost their long hold on the Quidditch Cup, but surely some of him would be proud of his nephew.

The match was quick – Harry caught the snitch quicker than anyone could ever remember, and Gryffindor had won.

The stands erupted in cheers and when Harry landed on the ground, he was mobbed by the rest of the team, and then the Gryffindors who spilled out onto the pitch with a deafening roar.

Even Dumbledore came over to congratulate him, and Regulus, though he looked disappointed, gave his usual half-smile and nodded at Harry in congratulations.

As Harry left the changing room some time later, to take his broomstick back to the shed, he felt extremely proud and knew he had to write home with the news – his mum and dad would be extremely proud to say the least.

On his way back up to the castle, where he'd arrive just in time for dinner, Harry saw a figure leaving the castle, food up around his face, robes flowing behind him. Harry immediately recognised his uncle and wondered what he was doing, when everyone else was at dinner. He wondered about going over to speak to him, but saw him duck behind a tree and yank his hood down.

Harry frowned and carefully edged over, desperately trying not to step on anything that might make a noise and give him away. He realised that all those years of playing tricks on each other at home had come in handy as he was able to sneak over unnoticed and hide behind a neighbouring cluster of trees.

Not far away, his uncle was standing with Professor Quirrell, who was stuttering worse than ever.

"Regulus, I-I d-don't know why w-w're ..."

"I thought we needed a private conversation," Regulus said coldly, in a voice Harry wasn't sure he'd ever heard him use, "wouldn't want students overhearing anything about the Philosopher's Stone, would we?"

Quirrell mumbled something Harry didn't hear but Regulus quickly replied, "Don't try lying to me, Quirrell, it doesn't work. Have you found out how to get past Hagrid's beast yet?"

"R-Regulus, I -"

"You had better stop whatever you're doing, and think about where your loyalties lie, mark my words," Regulus hissed, "we'll be talking again soon, and as soon as I have any evidence, Dumbledore will be hearing all about this. You wouldn't dare do anything with Dumbledore around."

Regulus strode away with that, and Harry frowned in confusion.

When Harry got to dinner, his friends immediately started telling him about how Malfoy had tried to bully Neville in the stands and been rewarded with a black eye from Ron, whilst Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle together. They then started telling them all about the party in the common room Fed and George were throwing, with food they'd stolen from the kitchens.

On the way back up to the common room, Harry took them all aside into an empty classroom and immediately started telling them what he'd seen in the grounds between Regulus and Quirrell.

"So we were right," Hermione said slowly, "it _is_ the Philosopher's Stone, and it sounds like Professor Black thinks Quirrell is after the stone."

"Why would Quirrell be after the stone though?" Ron frowned, "he's so … pathetic. I can't imagine him … doing anything like that."

Harry shrugged, "Well, that's what it sounded like."

They all mused this for a bit longer, before Hermione decided, "Well, if Quirrell _is_ after the stone, I'm sure Professor Black can handle it, and it sounds like he wouldn't dare do anything with Professor Dumbledore around, and _he's_ not going anywhere."

"I think we should stay out of it," Neville said quietly.

Harry reluctantly agreed but wondered if he should speak to his uncle – Regulus was a capable man though so surely he'd have it all under control. Harry decided he would keep an eye on Professor Quirrell and go to his uncle if anything else happened. For now, they would just enjoy the party.

* * *

**Note: About the relationships in my story: I'm thinking of bringing Tonks and Lupin's relationship forward a bit, since they've met four books earlier here than they actually did, so their relationship will probably progress a lot through Chamber of Secrets. **

**Regulus: I want Regulus to find someone, probably a nice pure-blood or half-blood but am struggling to think of an appropriate canon character, so if anyone has any ideas, I'd always willing to listen. Obviously, I've tried to give him a date here, but I don't know what everyone thinks about this pairing?**

**Sirius: Sirius will probably be a bachelor for a while but I'm also trying to think of someone for him in the future but that will be a way off. **


	11. Norbert and the Forbidden Forest

**Note: Thanks as ever for all your reviews! One review pointed out that my AU is still very similar to the original story, which I realise and Chamber of Secrets will probably be quite similar too, but Prisoner of Azkaban will be very different – I don't know what I'll do yet, but it will have to be very different to the books for obvious reasons, and I expect my stories will get more and more original as time goes on.**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

February faded quickly into March, which meant lots of birthdays for the inhabitants of Potter Manor. Remus Lupin's thirty second birthday was ten days into the month, and five days later was Lyra's tenth birthday, which she happened to share with Maia and Sirius. James' birthday was at the end of the month.

Lyra's birthday had always been the focal point of these, and Maia and James had make a big fuss out of her. Maia, Sirius and Remus weren't nearly so bothered about their own birthdays now they were older, but always made sure they treat Lyra like a little princess, and Lyra revelled in it.

When Lyra was asked whether she wanted to go out to celebrate her birthday, or have a meal cooked at home, she chose to go out, so they all dressed up the night before Lyra's birthday, which was a Sunday evening, and went out for a meal to jointly celebrate Remus, Maia, Sirius and Lyra, but really it was all about Lyra.

Regulus, Tonks, Andromeda and Ted accompanied them, and though the Tonks family made nice new additions to the party, it was strange not to have Harry and Neville with them, as they usually were.

A chocolate cake was produced for Lyra at the end of the meal and they all sang to her, which she delighted in, blowing out the candles out with a grin.

After the meal, the three Tonks went home, Nymphadora departing with a big hug for her little cousin and telling her she'd see her very soon. Regulus also departed with a hug for his niece and a friendly goodbye to the others, before his sister could try to ask him about his love life again.

Back at Potter Manor, Lyra was allowed to stay up past her usual bed time and spent that time in the gardens playing with her fanged frisbee, which Maia personally thought ought to be banned – her daughter was lethal and threw it in such a way that it was a wonder anyone had any fingers left.

It was getting late when Maia ducked out of the game to put the kettle on and make a cup of tea to take up to bed. Remus had long since ducked out of the game and gone to read in bed, and even Sirius had decided to call it a night, leaving only James and Lyra playing. It was far as her daughter's bedtime but Maia hadn't had the heart to tell her to go to bed.

As the kettle boiled, Maia watched through the window as her husband and daughter played with the frisbee. James was laughing and grinning, and Lyra was looking as mischievous as ever.

Ever since he'd planted the seed that he might like another child, Maia had started to think about it more and more. It had been 5 months since he'd first brought it up and although he hadn't mentioned it too much since, she knew he was still thinking about it, hoping she'd come around and agree with him.

For the first time, she realised she could probably do it. Harry and Lyra were the best things in her life and she never could imagine not having them, despite the fact that neither of them had been planned. They were always going to have children, of course, and were thrilled with each pregnancy but hadn't actively been trying to get pregnant with either of them. Still, she wouldn't change anything and how could having another child but anything but wonderful? James was a wonderful father, and she knew he'd always wanted a big family – a quidditch team, he told her. They'd considered having a third a few years after Lyra was born, but when it just didn't happen, they'd moved on. Maia thought she couldn't stretch to the 7 James wanted, but a third would be nice.

She'd been thinking about it for months, and pictured herself with another little baby in her arms. Maybe another boy, she thought, with James' lovely hazel eyes this time, or another little girl for them all to fuss over. All her worries about whether she could cope with another baby, whether she needed one, were gone.

He'd done it, she thought. He'd planted the seed in her mind, and now she wanted a baby.

When the tea as made, Maia went back outside to suggest to her daughter that it was time she went to bed. Lyra, predictably, whined about it, but James smiled at her indulgently, ruffling up her hair.

"You have to go to bed, because tomorrow's your birthday," he told her, "and your mum and I have to go to work in the morning, so you need to get up early so we can see you open your presents before we go."

"I suppose," Lyra sighed.

"Good girl," James told her, ushering her inside and locking the back doors behind them, "come on, up to bed."

When Lyra had been put to bed, Maia entered the bedroom she and James shared, with two mugs of tea floating in front of her, setting one down on either side of the bed and starting to get dressed. James was sprawled out on the bed on his back, already in his underwear and when Maia was in her nightclothes, she clambered onto the bed, reaching for her mug.

She shuffled over to James, being careful not to spill any of the liquid, and seeing what she was trying to do, James smiled at her and moved over to her in one swift movement, lifting up one arm and wrapping it around her shoulders. Maia smiled, wrapping both hands around her mug and lifting it to her lips, enjoying the warm feel of James' shirtless body pressed against her.

"How does it feel to be nearly thirty-two?" James asked her, rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

"You tell me," Maia replied, "it's your birthday in two weeks."

"Do you feel old?" James teased, earning himself a glare.

Maia replied, "Surprisingly, I feels exactly the same as I did yesterday."

James chuckled, "That's good to know."

"Can you believe Lyra is already ten?" Maia sighed, "feels like just last week we were sitting in the hospital trying to find the perfect name for her, and now she's been here ten years. She's growing up too quickly."

"I know," James agreed, "they both are. Where did all the time go? You know, when Ly was born I thought it was only a matter of time before Padfoot and Moony found someone and upped and left."

"Me too," Maia replied, "I know it's silly, but when they were little I could never imagine them growing up, and now Harry's at Hogwarts and Lyra's 10. It won't be long before they're both off, and too old to let me cuddle them."

"I'm sure that will never be the case," James told her, "but I might ask them both if they'd consider not growing up for a while."

Maia nodded, taking another sip of her tea and briefly closing her eyes, enjoying James' arm around her and starting to feel very sleepy. She was always sleepy on Sunday evenings, knowing she had to get up and go to work the next morning, but she didn't want to go to sleep. She wanted to stay up for a bit longer to spend time alone with James, and she felt content here.

As they sat in comfortable silence for a few moments, before Maia felt all her feelings about another baby coming to the surface and she thought of how happy James would be if she told him that she'd finally decided.

"Jamie?" she said after a few moments, drawing his name out.

James thought she was about to ask for something, when she said his name in that tone of voice, maybe something related to her birthday, and amused, looking down at her, he asked, "Yes, darling?"

"I've been thinking ..." Maia said, a smile crossing her face as she pictured the look on James' face in a few seconds, "I want a baby."

She felt him freeze beside her, the arm around her shoulders tensing and the hand that was rubbing up and down her arm stilling. She glanced up at him and he was staring down at her, looking shocked, which he really shouldn't she thought, given he'd started all of this.

He opened his mouth, then closed it and a few seconds opened it again, frowning slightly at her as if trying to work out whether what he'd just heard was right, "Did you just-"

Maia nodded wordlessly, grinning as she watching James crack a huge smile, and feeling like it had all just become very real – they were going to have another baby.

James let out a laugh and then used his free hand to take hold of the mug she was clutching, tugging it from her hands and reaching behind him to set it down on his bedside table. He removed his arm from around her shoulders and quickly shifted his position, grasping both of her hands in his.

"Really?" he asked her, "do you really want another baby?"

Maia smiled, curling her fingers around his and looked into his eyes, "Yes."

James looked overwhelmed with happiness and it was infectious. This decision was incredibly exciting and Maia beamed when he let go of her hands to put both of his hands on her face, tenderly cupping her cheeks.

He leaned in to kiss her, a short, sweet kiss, and when he pulled away, stroked her cheeks lightly with his thumbs. He was looking at her with some kind of awe and he said, "You're sure, aren't you? You're sure this is what you want – you're not just … saying it because I said -"

"Don't be stupid, James," Maia replied happily, "no-one "just says" things like this. I want another child for our family."

"Me too," he said, "this is … the best. It really is."

Neither could contain their excitement and happiness and James could do nothing more than stare into his wife's eyes, caught between wanting to tell her how wonderful all this was and wanting to kiss her senseless.

"Let's not rush it though," Maia said gently, reaching up to take hold of his hands, moving them from her face so she could hold them both in hers, "and let's not force it. We can just … stop using contraception and carry on like we usually do."

James smirked at her – they already had a rather healthy love life, usually having sex three or four times a week, so continuing as they usually did would hardly be a bad thing. Still, he understood what she was trying to say – not becoming consumed by their efforts to have a child.

"Of course," he said.

"And let's not tell anyone," Maia added, squeezing his hands and shuffling closer, "I don't want any pressure. I don't want anyone asking if we're pregnant yet … it can just be … _ours."_

"Who am I going to tell?" James laughed – his best friends were Sirius and Remus for Merlin's sake. He was hardly going to tell the former about his goal to get the man's sister pregnant – the implication that James frequently had sex with his sister would be enough to make Sirius run from the room with his hands over his ears. He must know anyway, but he could live in ignorant bliss if he didn't hear anything about it. Remus was much the same.

Maia nodded, and couldn't find any more words, looking into his eyes and revelling in his excitement.

"So, we're really doing this?" James asked, wrapping an arm around her waist and guiding her other hand to his shoulder, where she then rested her hand on the back of his neck.

"I think we are," Maia replied with a smile, barely reaching the end of her sentence before James closed the short distance between them and leaned down to press his lips against hers.

His kiss was light at first but she soon felt his tongue against her lower lip begging for entrance. She parted her lips and kissed back with enthusiasm as he drew her in closer, pressing his chest flush against hers. Her hand travelled up into his hair and she realised she was smiling into the kiss – they were going to have a baby and it felt _so_ right.

* * *

For those at Hogwarts, March meant that the exams were looming closer. They were actually ten weeks away, but by the way Hermione was revising, anyone would think they were next week. She kept nagging Harry, Ron and Neville to draw up revision time-tables and colour-code their notes, and so far Neville had given in for a quiet life, but Harry and Ron were still holding out.

By the time the Easter holidays came around, they had a mountain of homework and had all taken to accompanying Hermione to the library. It was during one of these library sessions that Hagrid shuffled over to them, looking very out of place in the library and sounding a little shifty.

He very sternly told them that they'd better not be still looking for Nicholas Flamel, and Ron carelessly replied that of course they weren't – they found out who he was ages ago, and they knew Fluffy was guarding the Philosopher's Stone.

Hagrid shushed them loudly and told them to come and visit him later on.

When he'd gone, they spoke about how shifty he'd been acting and Ron hurried off to work out what section Hagrid had just come from, confused as to why he'd been in the library at all.

When he returned a minute later and slammed a book down on the table, he was wide-eyed and whispered, "Dragons! Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look – _From Egg to Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide_."

"Hagrid has … a dragon?" Harry frowned, "my Dad tell me Hagrid's always been obsessed with dangerous creatures."

"It's illegal though, isn't it?" Neville suggested.

"Yeah," Ron replied, "It'd be hard to stop Muggles noticing if we're keeping dragons in the back garden – anyway, you can't really tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off the wild ones in Romania."

"So what on earth's Hagrid up to?" Hermione frowned.

An hour later, the four eleven year olds went down to Hagrid's hut and were surprised to find the curtains closed. Inside the hut there was a blazing fire in the grate and they sat down beside a slobbering Fang, as Hagrid made them all tea.

Hagrid might make terrible sandwiches and cakes but his tea was quite good – not as good as his Mum's, but perfectly acceptable for the palette of one who rarely drank tea anyway.

After they'd exchanged pleasantries – Hagrid particularly asking after Harry's parents and sister and Ron's brother Charlie, whom he was very fond of - Hagrid sighed and waited for them to ask him their questions about the Philosopher's Stone, and Harry was the first to broach the subject, deciding there was no point beating about the bush.

"We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone, apart from Fluffy," Harry said, "the other Professors must have provided some protection too – spells and things."

Hagrid frowned at them all. "O' course I can't! Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know far too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here for a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts – I imagine yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even knew abou' Fluffy!"

"Oh come on Hagrid," Hermione said, in a very warm flattering voice, "you do know everything that goes on around here. We only wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

Hagrid's chest swelled with these words, and Harry and Ron beamed at Hermione. Neville was less sure, but even he couldn't deny he was curious about the whole tale at this point.

Hagrid was swayed, "Well, I don' suppose I could hurt ter tell yeh that … let's see … he borrowed Fluffy from me, then some o'the teachers did enchantments – Professor Spout – Progessor Flitwick – Professor McGonagall – Professor Quirrell – an' Dumbledore himself did something o' course, and Professor Black. Why didn't you ask him, your uncle, about this? Suppose you thought you'd be in trouble if he found out yeh'd bin snoopin' around. He'd probably tell yer mother, and she'd tell yeh to damned well behave yehself."

Harry wondered what his mother _would_ say to him but Ron took over, "_Quirrell?"_

"What's wrong with Quirrell?" Hagrid asked incredulously.

"He's after the stone for some reason!" Harry announced.

Hagrid let out a groan of frustration, "Don' be so ridiculous. Why would Professor Quirrell be after the Stone – he's a Hogwarts Professor, and besides, have yeh seen 'im? Firs' Ron and Hermione here thought Professor Black was up ter somethin', and now Professor Qirrell!"

But Harry knew his friends were thinking the same as him – if Quirrell was involved in protecting the Stone, it would probably be quite easy for him to find out how to get past the other teachers' enchantments. He might know everything – apart from how to get past Fluffy.

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you?" Harry asked anxiously, "and you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me and Professor Dumbledore," Hagrid insisted.

Moving on, Harry nodded, "Can we have a window open? It's boiling in here!"

Hagrid shook his head, "Can't I'm afraid, sorry."

With that he glanced at the fire secretively, and the others all looked at it properly for the first time too. In the heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, sat a huge, black egg. Hermione and Neville gasped loudly and they all stared in shock.

"Where did you get that?" Ron asked, coming to crouch closer to it, "It must have cost a fortune!"

"Won it," Hagrid replied, "Las' night I was down in the village havin' a few drinks, got into a game o' cards with a stranger and won it."

"What will you do when it's hatched?" Hermione demanded.

"Bin doin' some readin'," Hagrid replied proudly, pulling a big brown book out from under his pillow, "got this outta the library – _Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit. _It says ter keep the egg in the fire 'cause their mothers breath on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here – how ter recognise different eggs – what I got here is a Norwegian Ridgeback. Rare, them."

Hermione pointed out that Hagrid lived in a wooden house, but this didn't seem to phase him.

Harry secretly thought that although this was rather idiotic, having a pet dragon would be incredibly cool, as long as it didn't kill you. He knew everyone at home would think it was cool – Lyra would be incredibly jealous if she knew he'd just seen a real dragon egg, and would probably get to meet a baby dragon.

His dad and Uncle Sirius would think it was very cool, and even his Mum and Uncle Remus – who were supposed to be the more sensible ones – would agree dragons were very cool. His mum would pretend she was the more sensible one all she liked, but he knew she'd been just the same as Sirius and his dad back in their day.

Briefly, he considered including something about Hagrid's dragon egg in his next letter home but then thought better of when he remembered the illegality of the situation. His dad _did _work for the ministry after all, and even if Hagrid was an old friend of theirs, maybe there was some kind of rule that said he had to report any illegal things he heard. Maybe he'd be in trouble if the ministry found out he'd known and hadn't passed it on. Maybe best to just keep quiet about it, he decided.

* * *

A few weeks later, it was the middle of April and life at Potter Manor was progressing very much the way it always did, apart from James and Maia's secretive efforts to conceive.

True to their word, they had kept to their usual habits, trying to not force it, but now they'd begun, it was difficult not to frequently wonder if she was pregnant. It was probably premature she knew – it could take months. She might have fallen pregnant quickly with Harry and Lyra, but it had been over ten years since she last conceived a child and who knew what could have changed since then. Still, it was difficult not to feel hopeful after every time she and James made love.

It was a morning in the middle of the week when Maia woke up half an hour earlier than usual, feeling a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. She frowned and sat up, gently pushing James' arm off her waist and rubbing her forehead with one hand.

The pain was far too familiar and she felt uncomfortable as she forced herself out of the bed and to her feet. Pushing open the door to their bathroom, she tried in her sleepy state to consider what the date was and came to the conclusion that it was about a month or so since her last period.

One trip to the bathroom confirmed that she had indeed gotten her period and once she was finished, she intended to go back to bed for another half an hour or so, but couldn't bring herself to open the door and leave the bathroom.

Instead, she turned around and rested her back against the door, closing her eyes and resting a hand on her stomach gently.

She wasn't pregnant.

Disappointment washed over her, followed by annoyance at herself. She was being silly – she shouldn't have expected to fall pregnant in the first month of trying, but she was new at this trying to conceive, and she'd been naïve. She should have expected this, she thought, but it was still disappointing. It was remarkable how quickly she'd managed to go from not ever thinking about a third child, to desperately wanting the little baby and hating her body for sending her her period.

What if it was like this for months? How long would it take? She hadn't really thought about how long it would take her to get pregnant, but she'd never been the patient type.

Rubbing a hand over her stomach, she frowned, opening her eyes. Ok, she was being silly, she tried to tell herself. She should just go back to bed for a bit, and better luck next month,she thought. Still, she stayed where she was, unable to bring herself to leave the bathroom.

Meanwhile in the bedroom, James woke up to find his bed empty but still warm. Wherever Maia had gone, she hadn't been gone long and he sat up slowly, glancing around.

The bathroom door was shut and he could see the light through the cracks underneath and at the sides of the door, so she must be in there. He couldn't hear any noise coming from there though – no taps running, the shower wasn't on and he couldn't hear her moving around.

Five minutes later, James was still lying in bed looking at the clock and willing himself to wake up and get out of bed for work, and he still hadn't heard any movement from the bathroom but he heard a sniff. Frowning, he sat up, and thought he heard another little sniff, as if she was … crying.

"Maia?" he called out, throwing the duvet back and swinging his legs around, feet landing on the wooden floor. When there was no immediate answer, he added, "Is everything alright?"

"Fine," Maia replied, though James thought her voice sounded off, sort of choked, and only confirmed his suspicions that there _was_ something wrong.

"Well, it's not, is it?" he replied, stepping closer to the bathroom door, "are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Maia replied inside the bathroom, sniffing and wiping away a tear that had fallen, on the back of her hand, and feeling very silly about it really.

James frowned and rested a hand his hand on the doorknob – he wasn't going to go in if she wouldn't let him, but there was clearly something wrong. Maia wasn't often upset, and when she was, she told him all her problems and they worked through it together, so he felt helpless on the other side of the door.

"Maia," he said gently, "you don't sound fine. Let me in."

She heard her sigh on the other side and a second later, the door swung open with a start and he was face to face with his wife. His eyes swept up and down her form and then settled on her face – the skin around her eyes was a little red and she looked on the verge of tears, and he could think of no possible reason for this.

James looked so utterly concerned that Maia wanted to cry but she swallowed hard and took a deep breath, and she felt the tears that had previously threaten to fall, slowly fading away.

"What's the matter?" James asked, searching her eyes to try and read her emotions.

Maia knew now she was looking at him, she couldn't deny it, but it felt silly to admit all of her feelings, and she replied, "I'm not pregnant."

For a moment, James was confused, "You're not … _oh-" _he broke off in realisation at what she must mean, and when he realised why she was upset, his expression softened even more, "Oh darling, you're upset because you're not pregnant?"

Maia nodded, looking down and avoiding his gaze, "I know it sounds silly … probably shouldn't have expected it to happen so quickly but … I'm just a bit disappointed."

"It's not silly," James told her, "it's _ok_ to be disappointed."

"I just … I don't know. I hadn't really expected to feel sad about this but ..."

"Come here," James replied with a soft smile, holding his arms open. Maia took a step forwards and walked into his arms, which he swiftly closed around her, enveloping her against his bare chest. She wrapped her arms around him in return and felt a little comfort as she rested her head against his shoulder and he rested his head on hers after pressing a kiss to her forehead.

"Don't be _too_ disappointed, darling," James said, rubbing her back, "we have to give it time."

"Aren't _you_ disappointed?" Maia asked, hoping she wasn't the only one to feel this way.

James replied honestly, "Well, it would have been great if we'd gotten lucky and it happened right away, but no, I'm not too disappointed. We've only been trying for a few weeks – we can't expect it to happen right away."

"What if this goes on for months?" Maia sighed.

James tightened his hold on her, as if trying to give her an even more comforting cuddle, "We're not in a rush, are we? If it takes months, that's fine. It must be normal for it to take a while. We were lucky with Harry and Lyra. If it goes on for months, then it's fine. All the more time to enjoy trying for a baby."

Maia let out a smile, starting to feel a little better.

James added, "Besides, if you _were_ pregnant now, the baby would be born in … January. And everyone knows January birthdays are rubbish – too close to Christmas. You don't get made a fuss of properly … is this _helping_ at all?"

"Sort of," Maia replied honestly.

James chuckled and released her from his arms so he could hold her face in his hands and look into her eyes, "Listen – don't worry. Putting pressure on us isn't going to help."

"It's not us, it's _me_," Maia sighed, "_I'm_ not pregnant."

James rolled his eyes and replied, "Yes, but I had a lot to do with it, I think. So, no stressing then? It's not helpful for us and we've got plenty of time and we've only _just_ started. Don't be sad – I don't like seeing you like this."

He was stroking her face now and Maia offered him the closest thing to a real smile that she managed to far in the conversation, and said, "I'm probably silly for being disappointed at this stage, aren't I?"

"Not silly," James replied, "if that's how you feel, it's how you feel. Now, have I helped at all?"

"A little," Maia told him.

He smiled and leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead, "Good. I've got a good feeling about next month. Now, come on, I'll do breakfast for us."

* * *

Harry, Neville, Ron and Hermione spent the month of April working frantically to keep up with all the work they were being given, trying to keep an ear out for anything more about the Philosopher's Stone, and visiting Hagrid, whose dragon egg was yet to hatch.

Finally, at the end of the month, Hedwig brought Harry a note from Hagrid that bore only two words – _It's hatching. _

Ron was so excited that he wanted to skip Herbology. Neville, who had come to regard it as his favourite subject, disagreed, as did Hermione who was spending that very breakfast drawing up new revision timetables for them all.

Ron argued, "How many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

Hermione replied with a snappy reply which included Hagrid's name, prompting Harry to tell them both to shut up, as Malfoy was only a few feet away and had stopped dead to listen in to the conversation. Harry worried what had been overheard – he didn't like the look on his cousin's face at all.

Eventually they agreed to visit Hagrid during morning break and when the bell sounded, the four of them practically ran to Hagrid's hut. He greeted them with excitement and ushered them all inside, where the egg was lying on the table with deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside it and a funny clicking noise came from it.

Before they knew it, the egg split open and a baby dragon flopped onto the table. For a few minutes, they watched Hagrid coo over it, but all at once he went pale as he stared at the window – someone was watching and had _seen_. Even before he got to the window to see the figure running back to the castle, Harry knew it was Malfoy.

For the next week, Malfoy smirked at them even more than usual every time he saw them, and the four Gryffindors were very nervous.

They were spending most of their free time with Hagrid, trying to reason with him. Hagrid had named his dragon Norbert and refused to let him go or set him free, despite the fact that in one week it grew to three times its original length.

Eventually, the thought struck Harry – _Charlie_. And with that, they tried to persuade Hagrid to let Ron write to his dragon handling brother, who would be able to take care of him with his own kind, and eventually put him back into the wild, and to their relief, Hagrid agreed and Ron's letter was sent.

In the following week, Ron was bitten by Norbert. They had all thought it was only ever going to be a matter of time before Neville and a dragon in the same place resulted in disaster, so it was a bit of a surprise that Ron got bitten instead.

His hand was bloody and swollen and after that, none of them could wait to get rid of the creature. He had wanted to go to the hospital wing immediately, but they worried whether Madam Pomfrey would recognise a dragon bite and they'd be in trouble.

Neville had even suggested consulting his godmother over what one should do with a dragon bite, but they all agreed it wasn't for the best. They could hardly send Mrs Potter a letter asking "_Just wondering, how to you treat a dragon bite?" _without her replying to demand to know why they needed to know.

When Charlie's reply came, he asked them to get the dragon to the top of the tallest tower of the castle the following Saturday night, by which point it would be the first week in May.

The first hitch in their plan happened when Ron finally decided to go to the hospital wing for his hand, and whilst there, Malfoy stopped by to borrow a book from him as an excuse to come and laugh at him. It was only after Malfoy had gone that Ron realised his letter from Charlie had been in that very book, but it was too late to contact Charlie and change the plan.

On the night in question, Ron was still in hospital, so Neville, Harry and Hermione crept out under the invisibility cloak, collected Norbert, in a crate, from Hagrid and made their way up to the tower in the middle of the night, long after their curfew. Neville had easily been the most terrified about the plan but he was nothing if not loyal, and decided that he would still go with them.

On their way, they passed McGonagall, dragging Malfoy by the ear and screaming at him for being out of bed. Malfoy tried to protest, telling them Harry was also out of bed and had a dragon, but Professor McGonagall only shouted at him further for spreading lies.

This was enough to keep them in good spirits all the way up to the top of the tallest tower, where they were met by Charlie's friends ten minutes later. They were a cheery lot and once Norbert was safely buckled into a harness they'd rigged up, they all shook hands, thanked the dragon-handlers and parted ways. Norbert was gone.

They were all feeling so gleeful that they practically skipped down the staircase but it was all ruined when they reached the bottom of the staircase and found Filch suddenly looming over them out of the darkness.

They'd left the Invisibility Cloak on top of the tower and things could _not_ have been worse.

Dragged up in front of Professor McGonagall, none of them knew what to say to explain themselves, and she was outraged that the three of them were out of bed at 1AM and had also – in her mind – tricked Malfoy into being out of bed.

Drawing her own conclusions, she glared at them, "I've got a pretty good idea of what's been going on. It doesn't take a genius to work out that you've fed Mr Malfoy come cock-and-bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I'm disgusted! Four students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing."

Harry felt ashamed but the shouting just continued and continued.

"You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense than this. As for you, Mr Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. All three of you will receive detentions, fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor and I will be writing to your parents."

"Not Gran," Neville whined.

Ron looked crestfallen too and Harry winced – after the incident with the troll, he didn't want to think about what on earth his parents would say to him. It was even worse when it emerged that McGonagall was taking fifty points _each_ from Harry, Neville and Hermione.

They had ruined any chance Gryffindor had at the house cup this year and they could never make up for it. Harry didn't sleep for the rest of the night and he was dreading the outcome of Professor McGonagall's letter home.

* * *

Professor McGonagall must have written her letter immediately after reprimanding the young Gryffindors because it arrived at Potter Manor the next morning – or technically the same morning, which was Sunday.

James and Maia had spent longer in bed than usual that morning, as they sometimes did on Sundays, enjoying a lie-in before getting up and starting to prepare the family roast dinner.

When they eventually got up and dressed casually for the day, they left their bedroom pretty happy, after an early round of love-making, and in the kitchen found only Remus sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of tea and the morning's Daily Prophet laid open in front of him.

"Morning," Maia called brightly, immediately flicking her wand to switch the kettle on.

"Morning," he replied pleasantly "a letter arrived for you both about an hour ago. I left it on the window sill."

"Who's it from?" James asked, pulling up a chair at the table and lazily putting his feet up on another chair, watching as Maia picked the envelope up.

"I don't know," Remus replied, though he had a suspicion, as did Maia. They rarely received post addressed to both of them. If anyone from work needed James when he wasn't at work, it was usually urgent, so they'd use the floo network. Regulus addressed his letters to Maia alone, and Harry had only written two days ago, so it couldn't be him.

Maia picked up the envelope to see the very familiar emerald green ink, and the address was as oddly specific as usual. With a heavy sigh, she opened the envelope and read the contents of the letter.

Professor McGonagall was sending a lot more letters home these days than she had in the Marauders' day, but perhaps she'd lost more and more patience over the years. She'd also stopped writing to Maia and Sirius' parents after Mrs Black had sent her a howler saying she didn't want to hear anything about them.

_Dear James and Maia,_

_I am afraid I write to you with disappointing news. In the early hours of this morning, your son was caught out of bed. Mr Filch caught Harry, Mr Longbottom and Miss Granger wandering around at 1 o' clock. Also caught out of bed was Draco Malfoy, whom your son and his friends had fed a ridiculous story about having a dragon, in an attempt to get him out of bed and into trouble. _

_Of course, this is unacceptable behaviour and points have been taken from Gryffindor house as punishment. Harry will also serve detention later this week._

_Hoping you are well,_

_Minerva McGonagall._

Maia sighed in exasperation and held the letter out to James, saying, "He's in trouble again."

She folded her arms and leant back against the kitchen counter, watching James read the letter. It was news she could really do without – admittedly, she'd been out of bed after curfew in her time, but why was her eleven year old son sneaking around at 1 o clock, and what was all this about telling Malfoy there was a dragon somewhere?

Harry wasn't a liar, and she couldn't imagine him trying to get Malfoy into trouble, even if he didn't like him. But what was the alternative? If no-one had lied to him, was there a chance that there was a dragon involved? Surely not, but after the troll, maybe nothing should surprise her.

James finished reading the letter and then looked up at Maia, handing the letter to Remus.

"Well?" Maia said, raising her eyebrows.

James sighed, leaning back in his chair, "Not ideal, is it?"

"No, it's not," Maia replied firmly, "I told that boy to behave this term! What does he think he's playing at, being out of bed at 1 in the morning? Being out of bed past curfew is _one_ thing, but wandering around at that time _and_ being stupid enough to get caught when he owns an Invisibility Cloak, what's wrong with him?!"

The volume of her voice had quickly risen and James could understand her frustration at their son – they'd explicitly told him to behave this term, and although he didn't begrudge the boy having a bit of fun, he could have at least used the cloak and a bit of common sense.

"And what's all this about a bloody dragon?!" Maia continued.

James sighed again, "_I _don't know, do I? But I don't see Harry trying to get Malfoy into trouble – Harry's not like that."

"I know," Maia replied, "but does that mean there's a real dragon somewhere? If there's a bloody dragon at that school, I can guarantee Harry would be the first person to tumble across it, after the incident with the fucking troll!"

James and Remus exchanged a glance, and Remus wished he was somewhere else right now, but he could hardly just get up and leave. Maia was easy to rile up when it came to her children, especially if she thought they might be in danger, and when she started swearing, both of them knew it was trouble.

"There's nothing to suggest there's a dragon at the school," James replied, trying to reason with her.

"Assuming that the Malfoy boy didn't pull a story about a dragon out of no-where, and Harry didn't lie about having a dragon to get him in trouble – which really I don't think he will have done – then maybe … somehow … I don't know, but I know our son and I know what he's like. I've got a bad feeling about this and if I find out that boy was involved with an illegal dragon-"

"I think Professor McGonagall's issue was more with the being out of bed," James interrupted.

"Well, that too," Maia said, "I told that boy to stay out of trouble! What was he thinking? This is the third letter home we've had and his first year isn't even over yet!"

"Maybe we should write to him and tell him to keep his head down," James suggested, "and hopefully he won't do it again."

"Hopefully?" Maia repeated, "when he's finished reading my letter, he won't put another toe out of line."

"You're not going to send him a Howler, are you?" James asked warily.

"No," Maia replied, "but he can be sure that if he misbehaves again, I will do. And what about you – what do you think about all of this?"

"I think we should tell him we're disappointed in him and encourage him to behave himself," James said, "the school are already punishing him, so that'll do, won't it?"

"You're soft on him," Maia sighed, feeling some of the anger towards her son leave her – he was being punished at school after all. Harry was loyal, and he'd be sad to have lost his house points, and Hogwarts detentions were creative, so that would probably be enough.

"We were young and mischievous once," James replied, standing up and taking over making them both of cup of tea, as the kettle had boiled but Maia was ignoring it, "if being caught out of bed is the worst he does, so be it. Merlin knows we were much worse – we were just cleverer about our use of the cloak."

"We can't ignore everything he does wrong just because we weren't always well-behaved when we were his age," Maia reasoned, taking his empty seat and crossing her legs under the table, "we're his parents and it's our job to discipline him. We're not teenagers anymore, we've got responsibilities, and disciplining our children is one of them."

"Well, the school have done it for us this time," James said, "but we'll write to him and tell him we're unimpressed and we don't want another letter home."

"And the dragon?"

"We don't know there _is_ a dragon," James replied, though he had to admit he was curious, and he amended his statement, "but maybe we could ask him in the letter why the Malfoy kid said that to McGonagall."

"Will you be less soft on him if there is a dragon involved?" Maia asked, though she knew the answer. James was probably always going to be the good parent, soft and forgiving, and she was always going to look like the bad guy. She could imagine this grating on her as time progressed, if Harry got into trouble frequently every year.

James sensed her frustration and turned to look at her, walking over and setting a mug of tea down in front of her, then taking one of the seats at the table. It was just difficult to know how to deal with things like this, especially when he'd been exactly the same.

Looking at his wife, he replied, "If Harry has somehow been involved with a dragon, when it's illegal to keep a dragon in this country, I will be very disappointed in him. Unless he has a very good reason, I suppose." Maia narrowed her eyes at him, and he quickly added, "I just mean, with the mountain troll, he'd only gone after it to save his friend."

"Fine," Maia replied, thinking of how James and Sirius and had become animagi for help Remus.

It all came out when they were betrayed by Peter on Hallowe'en – they'd had to tell Dumbledore about it so Peter couldn't escape from Azkaban as a rat, and in light of everything that had happened, James and Sirius were forgiven by both Dumbledore and the ministry, and became registered.

"What are we going to do with him?" Maia sighed, running a hand through her hair and picking up her mug with her other hand.

"He could be much worse, you know," Remus tried to reason, interjecting into the conversation for the first time, "he's a good kid."

"I know," Maia replied, "he's just frustrating."

"It's probably good practise for when Lyra goes," James said.

Maia groaned, "She's going to be a nightmare."

When Regulus arrived a while later for dinner, he brought with him an extended version of the events of the previous night. It was their first topic of conversation after Regulus has greeted them all and they were all seated in the living room, while dinner cooked in the kitchen.

"So she took fifty points from Gryffindor," Regulus said, after recounting what he had heard from McGonagall at breakfast that morning.

"Fifty?" Maia and Sirius chorused.

"_Each."_

"Each?" the twins demanded, as James almost choked on his drink. Harry might have done wrong, but to lose 150 house points in one night, and have them taken away by your own Head of House had to be unheard of. They'd had some punishments in their time, but none like that. Harry would be devastated, Maia knew. It was more than punishment enough.

It took them some time to get over this news. Sirius ranted about how horrible and unfair it was, and Regulus admitted that 150 points taken was more of a punishment than even he would have given out of bed students. He was also disappointed to have lost 50 house points from Slytherin, because of Draco Malfoy.

"Have you seen the Malfoy boy about this?" Maia asked with a frown, "because McGonagall's letter said he was out of bed too, and something to do with a dragon."

"I called him to my office this morning and he was given a severe talking to," Regulus replied, "as for the dragon, Malfoy claims that none of it was his fault. He _claims _to have found a note in a book he borrowed from the Weasley boy. From this, he knew Harry and his friends were going to be on the top of the Astronomy tower at midnight last night, meeting people who would take a dragon off their hands. Obviously it sounds like a load of rubbish but it's a strange lie to make up, so McGonagall assumed Harry had fed Malfoy a story about a dragon. Doesn't really explain the note though, but I don't think he told her about that. "

Maia sighed. Ron Weasley's brother was a dragon-handler. If Malfoy had indeed found this note in Ron's textbook, the fact that Ron had a dragon-handling brother certainly wasn't doing anything to dispel her suspicions that there actually _was_ a dragon involved.

"He's got a dragon," she groaned, shaking her head.

Regulus shrugged, "I don't know. I must say, I didn't think Harry would be spreading lies, but the punishment for spreading lies is easier to take than the punishment for keeping a pet dragon, so ..."

"Where would he even have gotten a dragon?" James asked in confusion.

"I don't know but I'll find out," Maia replied.

"Technically it sounds like he doesn't have a dragon any more anyway," Sirius pointed out, "even if he did have one, he got rid of it at the top of the Astronomy tower last night. And _speaking_ of Astronomy … how _is_ the lovely Astronomy Professor?"

Regulus turned his gaze on his older brother and narrowed his eyes slightly, "Professor Sinistra is very well, thank you."

"Are you two-"

"It's none of your business," Regulus interrupted, keeping a straight face, though his pale cheeks flushed slightly, giving away the answer.

"When are you going to bring her around to meet us?" Sirius asked with a grin.

"Never."

"Oh come on," Maia joined in, always loving to tease her little brother.

"You've already met her anyway," Regulus pointed out, "and that was enough."

* * *

At Hogwarts word quickly started to spread about what had happened the previous night and the Gryffindors were outraged when they found out that little Harry Potter, their quidditch hero had lost them all those points – him and a few stupid friends. Everyone had turned on him about from his closest friends – even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, who had wanted to see Slytherin finally lost the House Cup.

Harry received a letter from home on Monday morning and almost dreaded opening it, but he was just thankful that it wasn't a Howler and he knew he had to open it sooner or later, and he was greeted by his mum's curvy handwriting.

_Harry, _

_Professor McGonagall wrote to tell us all about Saturday night, so we know all about you being out of bed past your curfew. Didn't we tell you to stay out of trouble, for Merlin's sake? Please stop getting into trouble – we don't want any more letters home about you, so just keep your head down from now on. _

_Uncle Regulus told us you three lost 150 house points and you'll have detention so that's punishment enough we think but from now on STAY OUT OF TROUBLE. And honestly, if you were going to wander around in the middle of the night, couldn't you have at least used the Invisibility Cloak?_

_So, was there, or was there not, a real dragon involved in all of this? And you might as well tell us the truth because we'll probably find out if you don't. Dad promises not to report you to the ministry, if you're worried about that. _

_Hope you're ok, and revision is going well (if you've started it). Stay out of trouble now._

_Love Mum and Dad._

Harry thought the letter from home could have been much worse and he wondered if he should tell them about the dragon. He might as well just tell them, he thought.

After sending a reply home, the rest of Harry's week was quite unremarkable.

In fact the next few weeks were rather unremarkable, and everything seemed to be building up to their exams. The most exciting thing that happened in the weeks leading up to the exams, happened when Harry was walking past an empty classroom.

There he heard two voices – one belonging to Professor Quirrell, and another he couldn't quite make out. Quirrell was sobbing – begging someone to leave him alone, and finally ended "alright, alright," and swept out of the room, almost walking into Harry, straightening his turban as he left. Harry peeked into the classroom when he'd gone, and found it empty. He could think of no explanation for this, and tried to forget about it, but ended up telling Neville, Ron and Hermione all about it.

"Something's going on," Harry told them, "he was in there, sobbing to himself, but no-one else was in the room. I suppose they could have been hiding but _where? _Maybe they could have apparated-"

"Not inside the castle!" Hermione replied.

"Well, what was it then?" Harry frowned, "something's happened? What if he's going to go after the Philosopher's Stone?"

"He can't have figured out how to get past Fluffy, surely?" Neville piped up.

"Maybe we should go to Dumbledore," suggested Hermione, "we should have done it ages ago. If we try anything ourselves, we'll all get thrown out, and we've been in enough trouble this year."

"But we don't have any proof!" Harry pointed out.

"Maybe Professor Black could back us up," Ron suggested, "you heard him warning Quirrell off!"

"Maybe," Harry pondered, "but then it could come down to Quirrell's word against Regulus'. All we have to go on is knowing about the stone – which we only know about from Hagrid really – and the overheard conversation between Quirrell and Regulus. We're not supposed to know about Fluffy or the stone. It'll take a lot of explaining."

"Maybe we could just do a bit of poking around-" Ron started.

Harry interrupted, "We've done enough poking around. We can't."

"Maybe you could try talking to Professor Black instead then," Hermione suggested. Harry thought this actually wasn't a terrible idea. Maybe if he told his uncle, he'd go and scare Quirrell away from the stone, and he'd take it to Dumbledore himself. Maybe he could skip over how he knew everything, and convince him not to tell his mum and dad anything about it.

The next morning, when Harry was still contemplating going to talk to his uncle about all of his worries, notes were delivered at breakfast to Harry, Hermione and Neville. They were all the same and contained details of their detention, which was to take place at 11 o clock that night, and for which they would be meeting Filch in the Entrance Hall.

The detention was a nightmare.

Filch took them to the grounds, along with Malfoy, where they met Hagrid – their detention was to be helping Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest.

Once in the Forest, Hagrid showed them a silvery substance – unicorn blood. He told them something was killing the unicorns and they needed to find the unicorn whose blood this was, since it might be too hurt and needed "putting out of it's misery" as he said.

They split up – Harry, Hermione and Hagrid, and Neville, Malfoy and Fang the dog.

Harry had his first encounter with a centaur whilst they were walking through the forest. The centaur, Ronan, was polite enough but unhelpful, and they were approached by a second, Bane, who was not polite.

They had to swap over halfway through because Malfoy had scared Neville and made him send warning sparks up into the air, so Harry and Neville were forced to swap.

Whilst with Malfoy, Harry stumbled across the dead unicorn they were looking for. It was beautiful and sad but before they'd had chance to send up sparks to notify Hagrid, out of nowhere swooped down a hooded, cloaked figure, which lowered its head over the unicorn's open wound and began to drink its blood.

Malfoy ran from the scene and Harry felt a searing pain in his scar, which he had never ever felt before and he stumbled around half blind, clutching at his forehead. Eventually he fell to his knees in pain and he was found by another Centaur, who introduced himself as Firenze.

Firenze allowed him to ride on his back, offering to return him to Hagrid. On the way, the centaur asked him if he knew the uses of unicorn blood and proceeded to tell him that unicorn blood would keep alive even a person an inch from death, but drinking it resulted in a cursed life.

Even more, he asked him if he knew what was hidden in the castle. Harry did. Firenze asked him if he knew of anyone who had waited years to return to power, desperate to return.

Harry's blood ran cold as he thought of Lord Voldemort. His parents had told him all he needed to know about the dark wizard, and had warned him that they thought Voldemort would one day return.

Firenze implied that the creature they'd just seen, drinking the unicorn's blood, was Voldemort and Harry had never heard anything so terrifying. Firenze left him safely with Hagrid, and Harry desperately wanted to talk about it all but Malfoy was with them until they got back to the castle, where Filch met them and walked them to Gryffindor tower.

In the common room, they found Ron asleep on the sofa, clearly waiting for them, and Harry shook him roughly to wake him up and then started pacing up and down the living room as his three friends watched him in confusion.

"Quirrell wants the stone for Voldemort," he said urgently, "Voldemort's waiting in the forest. Bane, one of the centaurs, was angry at Firenze for saving me. He said Firenze was interfering … he wanted Firenze to leave me for Voldemort to attack! Quirrell is going to resurrect Voldemort, and then he's going to come after me and finish me off!"

"Don't say the name," Ron hissed.

Harry had never thought much to saying the name – his parents and uncles said it, so it seemed silly not to. This was it, Quirrell was after the stone for Voldemort – it was difficult to imagine Quirrell working with Voldemort, pathetic as he seemed, but what it all fitted together, it all made sense!

Hermione and Neville were the most terrified, Ron was incredibly confused, and Harry didn't know what to do. Hermione tried to reason, "You-Know-Who is scared of Dumbledore. While Dumbledore's in the school, You-Know-Who wouldn't do anything. And don't Centaurs tell fortunes and things? Professor McGonagall says its a very imprecise branch of magic. Everything will be fine. Maybe you really should talk to your uncle about all of this, you know."

Harry went to bed wishing he was tucked up safely at him with his professional dark wizard fighter father and uncle, and his mother and Remus, who were also very capable and spent the war fighting Voldemort. As it was, he closed the drapes around him and debated whether he should go to see Uncle Regulus in the morning.

* * *

Meanwhile at Potter Manor, life went on as usual.

Maia had hardly been able to believe it when they received a letter from Harry confessing that there had in fact been a dragon. She was furious when she first read that, but Harry's letter went on to explain that it had been Hagrid's dragon, and they'd just got caught up in it, and really, they were the ones who'd convinced Hagrid to get rid of it.

Maia had been unable to reprimand Harry too strongly faced with this evidence, and though she sent him a letter back telling him to avoid getting involved with illegal dragons in the future, even if it _was_ to help Hagrid, she let the dragon situation go.

Now able to talk about it all without being told he was too soft on their son, James pointed out that watching a dragon being born was incredibly cool, and Maia couldn't help but agree.

Lyra was beside herself with jealousy, and Sirius tried to pacify her by offering her a ride on his flying motorbike, which Maia allowed as long as they were very very careful.

Harry's next couple of letters home contained no signs of trouble – it sounded like he was busy preparing for his exams, mainly because Hermione was nagging them all to. She sounded like a good influence, Maia thought. Merlin knew she and James and Sirius didn't start revising so soon when they were that age, but Remus would have been trying to encourage them to do so.

In the middle of May, while Harry was bogged down in revision and a week before his detention, Maia came home from work after a late shift, arriving in the fire-place at 9pm and feeling very tired.

The house was very quiet and wandering through the house, she found Remus and Sirius engaged in a game of chess in the living room, and when she inquired about James, they told her he was in his office doing paperwork.

Maia went up to see him, but instead by passed his office to go up to Lyra's room. Lyra was in bed reading – she wasn't a big reader, but Remus had bought her a collection of books about magical beasts for her birthday and she was still working her way through them. She sat on her daughter's bed and chatted for a bit, asking her about her day and running a brush through her daughter's curly hair as they spoke.

When she left the room, after hugging her daughter and reminding her not to stay up too late, Maia walked back down the stairs to the second floor and pushed open the door to the room that had long since been converted into an office for James.

James was sitting behind his desk, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, glasses slightly askew on his face and his hair extremely messy. He was leaning back in his chair, feet up on his desk, chewing on a quill. His desk was littered with parchment and although he wasn't doing anything, it looked very much like he had work to do.

"Evening," he grinned as she closed the door behind her and stepped into the room, throwing his quill onto his desk.

"Hi," Maia smiled, walking slowly across the room and stopping in front of his desk, "busy day?"

James lifted his feet from the desk and leaned forwards to tidy his desk up a bit, trying to clear space for Maia to sit down on it, "Quite busy," he replied, "apprehended a muggle attacker. Bit of a nasty fight – Dawlish is in St Mungo's. He'll be fine though. He wouldn't have gotten hurt if he'd listened to me … but, anyway, got a pile of paperwork to do. I shouldn't still be doing it, but I kept putting it off. How was your day?"

"It was ok," Maia replied, sitting down on his desk, facing him. She crossed her ankles and swung her legs backwards and forwards lightly, eyes raking over her husband. "Come here," she said, frowning at him.

James raised his eyebrows at her but said nothing and shuffled his chair forwards. Maia leaned forwards and gently took hold of the frames of his glasses, and straightened them on his face. She then lifted a hand to his hair and gently tried to flatten some of it down. She succeeded with a small amount, but not much, and soon gave up.

James took hold of one of her hands as she withdrew them from his hair, and lifted it to his lips, kissing the back of her hand gently and then letting go of her.

Maia closed her eyes as he kissed her hand and as he let go of her and she rested both of her hands in her lap, she said, "I'm not pregnant."

Her statement was met by silence and after a few seconds she opened her eyes to look at James. She must have looked upset, because James' expression was soft and concerned, just as he had been last month and he reached out to take hold of her hand. Maia had been a bit tetchy for the last few days, and James knew it was because she was expecting her time of the month, and hoping it wouldn't come, so he had sort of been prepared for this moment this time, if not prepared for the pang of disappointment in his chest.

"I'm sorry darling," he said softly, "how do you feel?"

Maia sighed, "Disappointed. Again."

"I know," he replied, squeezing her hand, "next month, eh?"

"Don't say that," she replied, shaking her head, "it might not be next month."

James knew she was right but he just wasn't sure what the right words were so instead he pushed his desk chair further away from his desk and patted his thighs, "Come here," he said. Maia silently slid off the desk and sat in his lap and he folded his arms around her, tucking her up safely and holding her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, both contemplating, and after a few minutes, James said, "It's-"

"Still early days, I know," Maia interrupted.

"Well, it _is_," James pointed out, "we've got plenty of time and you can't force these things. We've already got two beautiful children, so surely it can't be long before it happens."

Maia felt comforted by this position, tucked up in James' arms, and after a few more minutes of comfortable silence, she started to feel a bit better and asked, "What do you want, this time?"

"The baby, you mean?" James asked.

Maia nodded. She wasn't sure what she wanted – in fact, she didn't think she'd mind either way. She hadn't minded with Harry, and although she'd wanted a girl at some point, she wouldn't have minded if Lyra had been a boy. If Lyra had been a boy, she'd probably have tried more for a third child after Lyra was born, to get a girl. Now she had one of each, she really didn't mind.

"So, what do you want?" Maia asked curiously.

She felt James huff in amusement and then he replied, "Twins."

Maia scoffed, "Twins? I don't think so, James Potter. That was _not_ the agreement."

James chuckled and kissed the top of her head, "Only joking," he said, though secretly he couldn't help but think that twins would be very fun, and it would be closer to that big family that he wanted.


	12. Hospital

Chapter Twelve

The next morning, Harry contemplated his options. What he really needed was someone responsible to talk to.

His mum and dad had always encouraged him to come to them with any problems, and they were lovely and understanding, but they weren't here, and it really wasn't the kind of thing you could put down in a letter. He'd never had a problem like this before, his scar had never hurt, and he'd never needed so many answers.

Still, he'd always been one to bottle things up – when he was little, his father had once had to coax out of him why he was upset, and it had taken him a long time to admit it was because everyone in the shop had crowded around him as soon as they head his name. James, of course, had cuddled him and dispelled his worries with ease.

This was quite a bit bigger than that, and he felt guilty about knowing so much and not knowing what to do with it – the Philosopher's Stone was in danger, and someone needed to know, but they had no evidence and shouldn't know any of what they did.

He debated going to see his uncle, but he'd probably tell his parents, and he didn't want them to worry when they couldn't see him.

Harry told himself he did not need help – Dumbledore was at the school and Quirrell didn't know how to get past Fluffy, so surely nothing could happen? It was almost the end of term, and then he could go home, and somehow everything would sort itself out.

For two weeks, Harry did nothing. He tried to ignore the stabbing pains in his forehead and he had started having nightmares about the hooded figure, blood dripping from its mouth. Ron, Hermione and Neville were far more terrified about Voldemort than they were about the Stone, and Professor Sprout had asked Neville three times in one lesson if he was alright, because he was so pale.

The exams had now begun, and in years to come Harry would never know how he got through them when he half expected Voldemort to come bursting through the door at any moment.

So far their exams had consisted of some written papers which they wrote with Anti-Cheating quills, and some practicals. They'd made pineapples tapdance, turned mice into snuff-boxes, and Harry now stood in the dungeon brewing a Forgetfulness Potion.

He could do this, he thought. Regulus had hinted that this would come up, and Harry didn't think he was doing too badly, despite the stinging in his forehead.

Regulus was almost prowling around the room, moving carefully but silently, occasionally coming close to someone's cauldron to peer in. When he came close to Harry's cauldron, he noticed the frown on his nephew's face – he could have put it down to the exam stress, but he'd seen him wincing throughout the exam and had on one occasion seen his hand jump up involuntarily to hi forehead.

He raised his eyebrows at Harry, and Harry gave him a rather unconvincing smile.

At the end of the exam, Regulus dismissed them all but added, "Harry, if I could just see you for a minute?"

The rest of the class stared at Harry as they filed out – being kept back after an exam could rarely be a good thing. He nodded at Ron, who was also staring, as he passed him. He hoped his uncle didn't have bad news from home for him – he could think of no other reason he'd want to see him.

When the room was empty, and Harry stood opposite his uncle, beside his desk, Harry cleared his throat, "Yes?"

Regulus offered him a half smile, but Harry knew it was the closest the man ever really got to a genuine smile, "Is everything alright, kid?"

Harry was slightly taken aback, "Yeah, fine."

Regulus raised his eyebrows at his nephew, "Are you sure? You look pale, and don't think I didn't see you clutching at your forehead."

"It's nothing," Harry replied, "bit of headache."

Regulus looked straight into his eyes, and Harry felt, not for the first time, that his uncle could read minds. It didn't help that he had the exact same eyes as Harry's mother, and Harry felt guilty at the thought of hiding things and lying. Regulus clearly knew something was going on and Harry wasn't sure how much longer he could lie.

After a pause, Regulus said, "Are you sure there's nothing bothering you? If you're worried about your mother finding out about something-"

"My scar hurts," Harry sighed.

Regulus hadn't expected this answer and he frowned, "Your … scar hurts?" This couldn't be good news, he thought. That scar was the product of dark magic, and dark magic scars didn't hurt for no reason, but there was no need to worry Harry.

Harry nodded, "Just … yeah."

"When did it start?" Regulus asked, trying to be very calm about it.

"Few weeks ago," Harry replied, avoiding his eye, "it's been getting worse. Should I be worried? Is it … dangerous?"

Regulus reached out to take hold of Harry by the shoulders and looked at him very directly, "Harry, it's not uncommon for scars caused by dark magic to hurt but your scar is a link to the – to L-Lord Voldemort. Did something in particular trigger the pain? Can you remember the first incident?"

Harry knew it had happened in the Forbidden Forest, but wasn't sure about telling his uncle about seeing what he strongly suggested was Lord Voldemort, out drinking that unicorn's blood. He wanted to talk to someone but wasn't sure how much to tell his uncle, and well aware that Regulus was waiting for an answer, said, "It happened in the Forbidden Forest, I guess. Uncle Regulus … if my scar is a link to Voldemort, does it hurt because … is it because Voldemort could be nearby?"

Regulus frowned and Harry wondered how much he knew. Obviously he had his own suspicions about Quirrell, because Harry had heard him warning him off, but did his know Quirrell's motives?

Regulus appeared to consider this carefully and replied, "Is there anything you're not telling me, Harry?"

"No," Harry replied, "I was just … wondering."

Regulus looked like he didn't believe him but didn't push the issue. Tightening his hold on Harry's shoulders, he said, "No-one has seen anything of Lord Voldemort in ten years – you yourself saw to that. You shouldn't concern yourself with anything except your exams right now, you hear me? And I want to hear if your scar keeps hurting, or if it gets any worse."

Harry could do nothing but agree, and Regulus nodded at him. Regulus bade him good luck in the rest of his exams and told him again to come to him if it got worse.

When his nephew had left the room, Regulus glanced at his watch – his first year Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs were due in, in ten minutes, and in the afternoon, his third years were due to take their exams. He really would like to talk to Professor Dumbledore about this – Dumbledore would know more about why the scar hurt and would know if there was any hint of Voldemort being around.

Harry came away from his uncle's dungeon classroom not sure if he felt any better about the situation. His uncle clearly wanted him not to worry, but he hadn't had answers that were reassuring enough, and Harry hadn't told him the full story. Maybe he should have done.

He was still pondering this that afternoon in their very last exam, History of Magic.

As soon as the exam was over, Harry felt free. They were free for a week until their exam results came out, and whilst Hermione dissected every single question, they walked down to the grounds where they sat happily by the lake.

Despite the relaxing situation, lounging by the lake and watching Lee Jordan and the Wealsey twins tickle the tentacles of the Giant Squid, Harry had a nagging feeling. His mind, as usual, was rarely off the stone, and he couldn't help but feel he was missing something in this whole situation. Something just didn't fit in.

Eventually conversation drifted to Harry's scar, and eventually the Philosopher's Stone. Ron and Hermione thought there was no need to worry, because Hagrid would never tell anyone how to get past Fluffy, and Neville wanted nothing to do with it all any more.

Suddenly, Harry realised something and leapt to his feet, "We have to see Hagrid."

His three friends followed him without question as they hurried towards Hagrid's hut, Harry rapidly voicing his concerns, "Don't you think it's a bit odd? That Hagrid wants a dragon, and a stranger just happens to show up with one? How many wizards carry a dragon egg, if it's illegal? Lucky the stranger found Hagrid, wasn't it? Why didn't we see it before?"

One conversation with Hagrid confirmed Harry's worries.

Hagrid had never seen the stranger's face, but he didn't think it was unusual – there were many odd people in the Hog's Head pub. Hagrid had spoken to the man about his job, and the stranger had been interested, kept buying him drinks and saying he needed to be sure that Hagrid could handle looking after a dragon. Hagrid had told the man that after Fluffy, anything would be easy. He'd told the stranger all about Fluffy, told him you had to know the tricks to calm creatures down, like playing music, in Fluffy's case.

Hagrid had looked horrified when he realised what he'd just done, but Harry turned on his heel and left quickly, and the others with him.

They ran to Professor Dumbledore's office, or at least, ran through the halls until they realised they had no idea where the man's office was. They were soon found by Professor McGonagall, who demanded to know what on earth they were doing.

Professor McGonagall told them that Professor Dumbledore was away, at the Ministry of Magic. When Harry insisted that it was urgent, and told her it was about the Philosopher's Stone. Professor McGonagall dismissed them and told them no-one was going to steal the stone – it was incredibly well protected.

Their next plan was to make their way up to the third floor and try and guard the forbidden corridor but Professor McGonagall turned up again and was absolutely furious with them. She screamed at them about how ridiculous they were being. She told them if she found them near here again, or out of bounds of out of bed, they'd all be going straight home.

With nowhere to go but the common room, the four Gryffindors were defeated.

"We should go see your uncle," suggested Ron, "he might listen more than Professor McGonagall did."

"We should leave it alone," Neville said.

"We can't go to my uncle," Harry said, "there's no point. What's the going to do anyway? He'd try and take it to Dumbledore, who's not here, then talk to McGonagall as the deputy, and she'd tell him he was just listening to me because we're related, but him and me are being ridiculous. It wouldn't do any good. So … well, that's it then, isn't it? I'm going out of here tonight, and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first."

"No!" Neville cried.

"You're mad!" Ron added.

"You can't!" Hermione exploded, "After what McGonagall said? You'll be expeleed."

"SO WHAT?" Harry shouted, shaking his head, "Don't you understand? If Quirrell gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over before, Hermione? Because I've been brought up in a house of four people who spent years fighting him! There won't be any Hogwarts left anyway, if Voldemort comes back! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, then, well, I'll have to go back home and wait for Voldemort to find me there! I'm going through that trapdoor and nothing you three can say will stop me! Voldemort killed my grandparents, remember! The rest of my family are lucky to be alive!"

"You're right, Harry," whispered Hermione in a small voice.

"I'll use the Invisibility Cloak," Harry said, "It's just lucky I got it back."

"But will it cover all four of us?" Ron asked.

Harry frowned, "All – all four of us."

"Oh come off it," Ron scoffed, "you don't think we'd let you go alone?"

"Of course not," Hermione said briskly, "How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? Maybe I should go look through my books … see if there's something useful.."

"But if we get caught, you'll be expelled too," Harry pointed out.

"I still think we should go to Professor Black," Neville said in a small voice, feeing very reluctant about the whole plan, "maybe he could go after the Stone himself, and wouldn't that be better than us going? He's a proper wizard. Or maybe he could get Dumbledore to come back … I just … we can't get Gryffindor in trouble again, and we can't sneak out. There's a better way to do it."

It must have been incredibly brave of Neville to say all of this, but Harry couldn't consider the words. He _had_ to go after the Stone.

* * *

Maia Potter got home just after 5 o' clock that day to find James in the kitchen already cooking dinner. He was the only person in the kitchen and he called a cheery hello as she appeared.

"Hey handsome," Maia replied with a smile, shrugging out of her travelling cloak and tossing it over one of the chairs.

James grinned from his position in front of the the cooker, flicking his wand at the sauce simmering away in the pan. "Handsome" wasn't her go-to term of endearment for him, so he knew she was in a good mood and he said, "Good day, love?"

Maia walked up behind him and slid her arms around his middle, one of her hands laying flat on his stomach and the other snaking up his chest, "Not bad," she replied, "dinner smells good."

She peered at the sauce he was overseeing – nothing complicated but it smelt good, and they were having it with meatballs she'd made the previous evening. One of her hands crept up his chest and James chuckled, lowering down the heat on the oven, and very much enjoying his wife's body pressed up against him.

"How was your day?" Maia asked, her hand resting on his chest, feeling his body through the thin material of his shirt, since he'd shed his outer robes as soon as he got in from work.

"Good," James replied, amused, "and I think it's getting better." He turned around to face her, forcing her to readjust her arms, and now she wrapped her arms around his middle with her hands resting on his back. He reached out to brush some of her hair away from her face and stroked her face with the back of his hand, "you're very affectionate this evening."

After two and a half months of trying to conceive a child, their sex life was very active and it had definitely brought them closer together, and James knew perfectly well when his wife was trying to initiate something.

"I'm allowed to flirt with my husband," Maia told him.

James chuckled, "Mmm, you _are_."

He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, and Maia's hands moved to his hips, holding him a little tighter and pulling closer to her. James groaned and deepened the kiss, one hand tangling in her hair and the other settling in the curve of her waist. His mouth moved perfectly against hers and Maia soon felt his tongue brushing against her lower lip. She parted her lips for him and when they broke apart almost breathlessly, a minute later, James grinned, smoothed down her hair where he'd messed it up, and then took hold of her waist.

"Well, _well_," James said, "you're in a very good mood tonight, aren't you?"

Maia lowered her voice conspiratorially and told him, "I'm ovulating."

"Ah," James nodded, lips curling with amusement, "I see. _Well_, we'll have to do something about that then, won't we?"

Some nights, their efforts to conceive had been quick fumbles at the end of the night, when they both tired and ready to go to bed, but James could already tell that tonight was going to be different, as his wife pushed herself up onto her toes and leaned in for another kiss.

James kissed back passionately, wrapping his arms around her waist and picking her up. He broke away just long enough to turn them around and sit Maia down on the kitchen counter, where he came to stand between her legs and she wrapped them around him.

"You're so beautiful," James told her, one hand resting on the back of her head as he tangled his fingers in her hair and claimed a kiss from her now swollen lips.

Maia grinned as he moved his lips to her neck, "You don't have to seduce me," she said, "I'm already a sure thing."

James didn't reply, but sucked lightly at the pulse point on her neck, making her tilt her head back and almost bang her head on one of the kitchen counters.

She wanted nothing more than to take hold of James and to up to their room, but she heard footsteps in the hallway and voices – Lyra and Remus. Thankfully Lyra always spoke and moved loudly, and Maia clutched at James' shoulders, "Someone's coming," she whispered.

James groaned in frustration and stepped away, turning back to the sauce he was supposed to be overseeing and smoothing his shirt down. Maia slid off the counter and leaned casually against it, straightening her robes, just as the kitchen door opened and Remus and Lyra appeared.

"Hi sweetie," Maia smiled, hugging her daughter as she got close, and smiling at Remus over the top of her head, "how was your day?"

Lyra shrugged, "Not bad. We walked down to the beach and played for a bit."

"That's nice, I wish I'd been to the beach today," Maia smiled, letting go of her daughter, who immediately went to observe what James was doing. Remus looked Maia up and down and then looked suspiciously to James. Self-consciously, Maia reached up to flatten down her hair. Remus said nothing but raised his eyebrows, and Maia knew that he knew he'd almost walked in on them snogging like a pair of teenagers.

"Are you hungry, angel?" James asked his daughter as she watched him.

"A bit," she replied.

"Dinner will be ready soon," Maia told her, "if you're really hungry, you can have a piece of fruit."

After dinner, they went to play in the garden together. Maia, Sirius, James and Lyra zipping around in the air on their brooms until Lyra eventually got bored and decided it was time to go get in bed with one of her magical creature books.

As the adults came inside, and James closed the back doors behind them, they wandered into the kitchen, where they took off their warm cloaks – despite being the end of May, it wasn't particularly sunny in the late evening- and left them on the stand in the corner of the kitchen.

"Right," Sirius said, pulling his wand out of his back pocket and flicking it towards one of the cupboards, wordlessly summoning a bottle of firewhiskey, "are we having a drink?"

Maia glanced at the clock on the wall – it was 9pm and she was not going to miss out on trying to conceive on the night she thought was she ovulating. If she waited any longer, she wouldn't be in the mood and she'd be tired. Besides, she'd stopped drinking because it was supposed to help.

"I don't know," she replied, "It's been a long week. I think I'm just going to go run a bath and have an early night."

"Oh come on," Sirius whined, "it's Friday night!"

Maia shook her head at him, "Sorry, I'm out. Moony will have a drink with you though, won't you? Night boys."

With that, she left the room before Sirius had any further opportunity to try and convince her to stay. She started up the stairs, knowing that James would follow her in a few moments and smiling at the thought of how they were going to spend the rest of their night.

Sirius tried hard to make his brother-in-law stay for a drink, but James argued that he was tired too, and wanted to have an early night. Sirius clearly didn't believe him, because it wasn't that late, but he gave in, telling James he was well and truly under the thumb. James could hardly reply that he was leaving because his wife was ovulating and they needed to have sex, and he was just glad to get out of the room and be able to join Maia upstairs.

Almost as soon as he'd entered their bedroom, Maia pounced on him, pulling him closer to her by his shirt and kissing him deeply. James kissed back passionately, lips moving against hers, tongue battling against hers for dominance, and strong arms closing around her.

He left her breathless when they broke apart and there was a gleam in his eyes, "Are we taking that bath then?"

A few hours later, they were curled up together in bed, chatting away happily. It wasn't unusual for conversation to turn to their potential third child when they were together like this.

The house was quiet, though knowing Sirius, he'd still be downstairs, enjoying a drink and chattering away to Remus, even if he was falling asleep. Maia sighed in contentment as she rested her head on James' chest and mumbled, "Do you think Harry and Lyra will be happy?"

"Hope so," James replied, "Harry'll be great, and Lyra will love having someone to play with."

"Sirius will be excited," Maia replied.

"Course he will," James grinned, thinking of his brother-in-law's reactions to the news of Harry and Lyra. Merlin knew he doted on the children just as much as he would ever have doted on his own. After a few minutes pause, he asked, "do you feel pregnant?"

Maia fought the urge to hit him with one of the pillows – it didn't feel like a useful comment right not. Every time they had sex, she lay down afterwards wondering if this had been it.

Resting a hand on her flat tummy, she replied, "I don't know." With a sigh, she added, "I love you."

He chuckled at the affection and rested his hand over hers on her stomach, "I love you."

They fell into a comfortable silence then, while James brushed his hand across her stomach gently, fingers skimming over her hip bones and then coming up to trail patterns on her torso.

Suddenly, a loud crack just outside the room broke the silence – as if someone had just apparated up – and then there was a loud pounding on the door. "Maia! James! Get up!"

Maia sat up quickly, staring at James, who looked incredibly alarmed. Sirius was hammering on their door and shouting their names again, and James climbed out of bed, plucking a blanket from the bottom of their bed and securing it around his waist to cover his naked body.

He yanked the bedroom door open just enough that Sirius would only be able to see him, and not into the room behind him, protecting Maia's modesty. "What the hell's going on?" he demanded of Sirius.

Sirius sounded panicked and he spoke quickly and urgently, "Dumbledore was just here – it's Harry! You and Maia have to go to the school _now!_"

Inside the bedroom, Maia had gotten out of bed almost as soon as James had, knowing there could be no good reason for Sirius hammering on their door at midnight. Calling on someone at midnight could only mean something bad – someone was hurt. She looked around for her dressing gown, but couldn't find it, and instead ripped the duvet off the bed and tried to wrap it around herself.

As she was doing this, she heard what Sirius said and her blood ran cold. Harry. Something had happened to Harry. Clutching the duvet around her and moving to James' side, she yanked the door open fully, "_What_?" she demanded, "What did he say? Is Harry alright?!"

Sirius was so frantic that he didn't bat an eye at Maia and James both wearing nothing but their bedsheet. With a loud crack, Remus appeared beside Sirius on the landing, and James demanded, "Well? Is Harry alright?!"

Maia's heart was pounding out of her chest as Remus replied, "Dumbledore just appeared in the fireplace. He said there's been an incident at the school, Harry is alive but injured-"

Maia let out a sharp gasp, pictured all the things that could be wrong with her son. How could he have gotten injured at school? Why would Dumbledore specify that he was alive – why on earth wouldn't he be? He was at school! Did that imply that something very serious had happened to him.

"Injured how?" James demanded, looking very pale and gripping the doorway so tightly that his knuckles were white.

"He didn't say," Remus replied gravely, "Dumbledore said you should make your way to the school. He'll meet you at the gates. It seems urgent. He said if he hadn't been able to attract attention in the fireplace, he would have apparated over."

"I … I don't understand," Maia frowned, her heart racing, "how could he be hurt so badly that we need to go see him in the middle of the night? He's at school, he should be safe."

"Maia, we need to go," Sirius said urgently.

"No, we'll stay with Lyra," Remus replied, putting a hand on Sirius' shoulder as if in an attempt to calm him and make him see sense, "we're all worried, but James and Maia need to go _now_."

Maia nodded – she needed to see Harry to know he was alright. A million possibilities ran around her mind but all she could think was Harry, her first-born baby, her darling son, was hurt and they had no idea how badly.

She and James dressed in a hurry. James was tight-lipped and very pale but apart from that, his expression gave nothing away, and Maia was also straight-faced, trying to keep herself pulled together so she wouldn't crumble. How could Harry be injured? None of it made sense.

"Daddy? Mum? What's going on?" asked Lyra, appearing on the staircase just as Maia and James left their room, fully dressed and ready to go.

"Go back to bed, sweetie," Maia told her, "we have to go see Harry."

"Why?"

"Go back to bed," James repeated, "Harry's been hurt, but he's going to be fine. We're going to see him, you're going back to bed, and Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony are staying here. We'll see you in the morning."

"Harry's ok, isn't he?" Lyra asked, looking more worried than Maia could ever remember seeing her. Maia wasn't entirely sure how to answer but didn't want to make it any worse.

James nodded, "He'll be fine. Go to bed, angel."

James and Maia left the house together in silence, apparating from their doorstep. Like many wizarding families, enchantments protected the house so no-one could apparate from outside in, although they could apparate from one point inside to another. The same enchantment that preventing someone apparating into the house, prevented someone apparating out, so apparation had to be done from somewhere past the front door.

They apparated to the school gates, Maia arriving a second after James.

Dumbledore was already there to greet them and he opened the gates for them silently. As soon a they were in, Maia stared at the old man, desperately needing answers. His face, as usual, gave nothing away and she needed answers right now.

"Harry?" she asked at once, "how's Harry?"

"Maia, James, I'm glad you made it here so quickly," Dumbledore said.

"Why?" James demanded, "he's going to be alright, isn't he?"

Dumbledore started to walk up to the castle and indicated that they should follow. As the three walked up the path, Maia almost wanted to hit him for not answering her question quickly enough, but he replied, "Harry is in the hospital wing. He is unconscious but Madam Pomfrey assures me he will wake up once his body has had enough time to recover. There should be no lasting damage."

Maia felt some relief that Harry would be fine, but without knowing what exactly had happen, the weight could not fully be lifted from her shoulders. She glanced at James to see him looking very tense and he reached out and took hold of Maia's hand as they walked, squeezing her fingers in his tightly.

"But what _happened_?" Maia demanded, "I don't understand … how could he have got so hurt at this time of night?"

The worst injury Maia had ever sustained at school had been due to a nasty fall from her broomstick, and she was sure Harry would have many quidditch related injuries during his school career, but not at this time of night! James had been in the hospital wing every other week, and so had Sirius, usually due to pranks or exploring in the Forbidden Forest gone wrong. Still, Maia could think of no conceivable situation where Harry could have gotten injured in the middle of the night. Maybe he'd sneaked out under the cloak and done something stupid? He must have done.

Dumbledore sighed heavily, not sure where to begin, "That is a complicated and distressing tale," he replied, "perhaps I should tell you once you have a seat."

Maia felt like her fingers were about to break with the way James was squeezing them, and her chest felt tight. She forced herself to try and breathe properly – she didn't understand, and she needed to know.

They were at the castle now, and Dumbledore led them inside. After he closed the doors to the castle, he turned to the couple, who were staring at him wide-eyed and panicked.

Maia was desperate to see her son, but she needed answers too, and she knew Harry's bedside wouldn't be the place to discuss it. Dumbledore's office was quite a way from where they were now, and she was desperate for him to say something.

James was too, clearly, as he said, "Professor, what happened to Harry?"

Dumbledore took them into the nearest room, which was an empty classroom, knowing their urgency, and he took a seat beside the desk, drawing up chairs for them both.

"Well?" Maia asked, really feeling very close to losing her patience as she took a seat without letting go of her husband's hand.

"There is no easy way to tell you any of this," Dumbledore said quietly, steepling his fingers together and resting his elbows on the desk in front of him, "I suppose I should start at the beginning."

"Just … what happened? How did he get hurt?" Maia urged.

Professor Dumbledore gave her an indulgent smile, "The whole tale is necessary. So … this year, as a favour to a dear old friend, Hogwarts has hidden and protected the Philosopher's Stone."

Maia nodded – she'd heard of the Stone vaguely, or at least versions of it, some kind of legends, but didn't know too much about it. What did this have to do with her son?

Dumbledore continued, "The Stone gives its owner immortality, so as you can imagine, it is very valuable, and very dangerous in the wrong hands. Although I cannot know all the details without speaking to Harry, I have my suspicions. The Philosopher's Stone was being hidden underneath an out of bounds corridor, which was protected by a three headed dog, provided by Hagrid, and a series of protective enchantments provided by several other members of staff."

"What does this have to do with-" James started, trailing off with a frown.

Maia didn't care about any of this, she just wanted to see her son, but it must all be relevant. Oh, what had that boy _done_?

Dumbledore continued, "It seems that Harry and his friends uncovered a plot to steal the Stone, and decided to go after the Stone themselves, to prevent this theft."

Maia's stared, "He did what? He … he went after the stone and fought …. who?"

"Harry, along with Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, got past Hagrid's three-headed dog, Devil's Snare, a broomstick challenge, a giant live chess board, and a logic test involving poisons, and was met in the final chamber by Professor Quirrell, our Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor."

"What?!" James demanded as he and Maia struggled to process the information, "he … what kind of people are you _employing_? The DADA Professor trying to steal a stone to gain himself immortality?"

Maia frowned, "So, Harry got past all that, and then what? How exactly did he get hurt? Did that man hurt him – was there a fight?"

"And herein lies the most crucial and most worrying part of our tale," Dumbledore continued, observing them carefully over the top of his half-moon spectacles, "Professor Quirrell had been possessed by Lord Voldemort."

Dumbledore paused to let this sink in and whatever Maia had been expecting him to say, it had not been this. Voldemort was back. Her 11 year old son had been confronted with Voldemort, when he should have been safely tucked up in bed, and not out pulling … heroics.

"Voldemort?" James repeated, stricken, "he's back?"

"But he doesn't have a body. How can he be back?" Maia replied, shaking her head and feeling the relative clam she'd been holding down slipping away. They'd always believed Voldemort would come back one day, and Voldemort coming back and hurting her children was her greatest fear. "Voldemort's back? How? How did he get into the school – how did he possess the Professor? Where is he now? What did he do to Harry?"

She started to rise out of her seat but James tugged her back down, wanting to know all these answers too. Maia rocked forwards and backwards in her seat slightly and she knew she was going to explode unless she got all her answers.

Sensing this, Dumbledore started talking quickly, "Professor Quirrell was travelling in Albania last summer, so I suspect he stumbled across the remains of Lord Voldemort and became possessed there. Voldemort confronted Harry this evening, and tried to kill him-"

James let go of Maia's hand quickly, and she knew it was because her nails were digging in too hard and she was hurting him, crushing his fingers and threatening to cut his skin with the nails.

Dumbledore continued, "Having been away at the Ministry, I arrived back here and reached Harry just in time to pull the possessed Quirrell off him. The effort of trying to save the Stone from being stolen nearly killed Harry, and Voldemort attacked him, but there was a flaw. Due to the sacrifice your mother made, James, Harry is protected by ancient blood magic. Her blood. Voldemort cannot touch Harry because of the powerful love protection that runs through him. For Voldemort to lay hands on Harry is agony, and Voldemort, and indeed Quirrell, literally crumbled to ashes after trying to physically attack Harry."

Silence met his statement and Maia didn't have a clue what to say – it was all so inconceivable, and she looked over at James to see him also looking completely bewildered. Maia didn't know whether to focus on the fact that Harry was hurt, Harry had faced Voldemort, Voldemort was gone again … her thoughts were everywhere and nothing made sense.

"I … I just can't … understand," she said after a minute, "so … Voldemort's _gone_?"

"For now," Dumbledore replied, "although I'm sure you think as I do, that he is out there somewhere, always waiting for an opportunity to come back. Not dead, but not quite alive."

Maia was sure she was in shock. It was all too much, and James seemed to be struggling to process it all too. Beside her, James said, "This is all … how did Harry know about all of this? What made him go after the Stone?"

Dumbledore sighed, "I suspect he has been poking around. He has a very curious nature."

"He should have stayed out of it," Maia said, heart still pounding in her chest, "the amount of danger he put himself in … he's lucky to be … he faced _Voldemort_! Why didn't _you_ know this thing was going to be stolen? Why didn't you know about the Professor being possessed – you know everything! How did my 11 year old know this thing existed, and how to get past all those so-called protective enchantments, and how did he know there was a plot to steal it? Shouldn't you have known? The kids are supposed to be safe here, for Merlin's sake!"

Dumbledore allowed her to vent, and then said, "I admit that I should have realised Professor Quirrell was not himself. I must apologise for everything that has happened, but assure you that Harry will be quite alright, the Philosopher's Stone has been destroyed, and Voldemort is gone for the time being."

"I want to see Harry now," Maia insisted, standing up suddenly, fed up of the headmaster, her mind filled with too much to possibly process and she felt the emotions about to boil over. She was going to start shouting, or crying soon, and she needed to see her son – the whole reason she'd gotten out of bed in the first place.

"Of course," Professor Dumbledore said pleasantly, getting to his feet and gesturing at the door, though Maia had swept out of the room before Dumbledore could get to the door. James followed closely behind her, and Professor Dumbledore followed too, although he knew they knew exactly where they were going.

Maia strode to the hospital wing briskly, where she found Madam Pomfrey waiting at the entrance – clearly Dumbledore had told her to expect the Potters. Maia felt her heart beating faster as she reached the older woman, desperately searching her face for information.

"Harry?" she asked instantly, "how's Harry?"

Madam Pomfrey showed James and Maia to Harry's bedside , passing a few sleeping students, and drawing the curtains around them when they stepped into Harry's cubicle.

Maia bit down hard on her lip when she saw her son. He looked like he was sleeping peacefully and Madam Pomfrey had changed him into a pair of pajamas. There were many cuts across his face and hands, which were the only exposed parts of his skin, and he looked small and vulnerable. Maia wanted to cuddle him, and take him home and not let him out of her sight.

"Oh Harry," she whispered, longing to do something to protect him. The fact that he'd been out of bed and doing something he shouldn't have, thinking he was being noble and trying to help – all of that didn't matter now. All that mattered was that her son was hurt.

"When will he wake up?" James asked the matron.

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat, "I shall leave you to it. You may stay, of course, as long as you like. I will come back in a few hours to check on you."

As he left, Madam Pomfrey replied, "I can't say for sure, when he'll wake up, but he _will_. His body took a very large shock and is recovering from that. I won't be surprised if it's a couple of days, but he will have no lasting injuries or scars. He's very lucky, really."

Maia, as a medical woman herself, demanded a full run down of each and every one of his injuries, and Madam Pomfrey told her everything she asked for, trying her best to calm her down.

When Madam Pomfrey left them, James stepped up to Harry's bed too and they both stared at their son, not sure what to think, or what to do.

Maia leaned over the bed and gently took Harry's glasses off, putting them down on the bedside table. She flattened down his hair with one hand, though Merlin knew why she bothered, and then sighed, clutching at the rail on the side of the bed.

"I can't … this shouldn't be happening," she whispered, glancing over at James to see him looking very grave.

"He'll be alright," James replied, though he didn't look too convinced.

"Will he?" Maia demanded, "our 11 year old faced Voldemort tonight! He's going to have nightmares, he'll be haunted, he … he should never have had to face this. He's just a child. What if Voldemort comes back? Our son could have _died_ tonight! It's too much for an 11 year old to handle. What if Voldemort finds a way back? He's never going to stop trying to kill our son!"

"Stop it," James told her, walking around the bed and coming to stand beside her, "you're panicking and it's not doing any good."

"Of course I'm _panicking_," Maia told him, her knuckles almost white as she gripped the rail on the bed, "Voldemort possessed a teacher, of a school where Harry should have been safe, and tried to kill him. How could I not panic? We always knew he was going to be back one day, but not so soon. Not while Harry's still a _little boy! _He's never going to be safe, is he?"

James sighed – there were no words that could make the fact that Voldemort had tonight attacked their son, any better. Instead, he reached out and laid one of his hands over one of Maia's.

"Voldemort's gone for now," he reminded her, though the words weren't even a comfort to himself.

"He'll come back."

"I know," James sighed, "but all we can do is be on our guard. And, I suppose, tell our son _not_ to take it upon himself to poke around uncovering plots like this, then sneaking out to foil plans. We can tell him to leave well enough alone, next time."

Maia nodded, wondering why her son had ever thought it was a good idea, and why he hadn't tried talking to a member of staff. She supposed she'd have to get the full story from Harry once he woke up, or perhaps from Neville if he came to visit. Though, Dumbledore had said only Harry, Ron and Hermione had done it all. Vaguely, she wondered how Ron and Hermione were – maybe they were in the hospital somewhere, but she hadn't noticed them, only focused on her son, and as it was so late, curtains were drawn around most of the other cubicles too.

Harry looked so young and vulnerable and Maia wanted to take him home and never let him out of her sight again. She was pulled out of her thoughts by James, a moment later.

"When do you think he'll wake up?" James asked, his voice sounding a little thick.

Maia looked up at him to see tears in his eyes and she sighed, wanting to protect and look after him too, "You heard Madam Pomfrey," she said softly, turning to face him and taking hold of both of his hands, pulling him to safe her, "she wasn't sure, but it could be a few days."

"Yeah, but what do _you_ think?" James asked desperately, "you must have seen things like this before?"

Maia nodded, "Two or three days, perhaps, I think," she said, tears filling in her own eyes, "all we can do is wait."

A tear slid down James' cheek, though he looked furious with himself and tried to blink the rest away. Maia had rarely seen him cry and she hated it. She wrapped her arms around his middle and hugged him to her, letting him bury his face in her hair and finding comfort in him too.

"It's scary, seeing him like this," mumbled James.

"I know," Maia agreed, thinking of all the times she'd seen parents with injured children at the hospital, and how very horrible it was to be on this side of it, "but he's going to be ok."

"He'll be asleep for a few days?" James repeated, one hand tangling in her hair as he hugged her tightly.

Maia felt a little lost at James needing comfort when she didn't have the answers, and was worried about the situation herself, but she knew as the Healer, he thought she'd have all the answers. She often felt like James did far more taking care of her, than she did of him, but took pride in when she could successfully make him feel better.

"I think so," Maia replied, rubbing his back in gentle circles, and feeling she was convincing herself as much as James, "all we can do is … wait."

"What if he has any … lasting damage?" James said, still clinging to her.

Maia didn't know the answer but soothingly said, "Madam Pomfrey seemed confident that he wouldn't. We just have to wait for him to wake up, and believe me, I'm not leaving this building until he does."

"I don't know how practical that is," James replied, loosening his hold on her slightly, "we do have another child at home. And jobs."

"Well it's Friday night, or I suppose Saturday morning now. We don't have work until Monday, and if he's still not awake, and if I want a day off to sit at my son's beside, the hospital will give me the day off," she said fiercely.

James smiled slightly at his wife's ferocity and pressed a kiss to her forehead as she added, "Although I suppose we will have to go home to check on Lyra and things."

James nodded – he would also sit by Harry's bedside certainly all night, and through the whole weekend, urging him to wake up, only going home to check on their second born child. He felt very tired, but nothing could stop him from keeping an eye on his son, and with everything they'd been told about Voldemort, he was far too preoccupied to sleep.

Maia pulled up a chair at the side of the bed and rested a hand on James' chest, "Sit down," she told him.

James sighed and sank into the chair, taking hold of Maia's waist as she went to get herself a chair, and pulling her onto his lap, wrapping both of his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.

Two hours later, Maia was standing beside the bed, James opposie her, when they heard footsteps across the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey had been to check on them an hour ago, and then taken herself off to bed, so Maia thought perhaps it would be Dumbledore.

Instead, the curtains to the cubicle opened very slightly and Maia saw her younger brother looking back at her. She gave him a slight smile and he stepped inside the cubicle, drawing the curtains closed behind him.

"Hi," she whispered as James sleepily raised a hand in greeting.

Regulus nodded at them, and he looked rather sympathetic, "Hi," he said quietly, "I wasn't sure whether you'd be awake. It's 3am."

"My son got attacked by Voldemort – of course I can't sleep," Maia replied, "do you know the whole story?"

Regulus nodded, "As much as you do, I believe. I thought I ought to come and check on you. I couldn't sleep either. Is he any better? I was with him when Dumbledore first brought him to the hospital wing."

"He'll be ok," she said shakily, and Regulus couldn't help but notice how much she didn't believe it, as he came to stand beside her.

"Maia, I'm sorry," he blurted out.

Maia raised her eyebrows at him, "Sorry? What are you sorry about?"

Regulus sighed, "I should have been able to stop it. Harry was acting odd yesterday. He told me that his scar hurt. He was worried. He even asked if it could mean the Dark Lord was nearby. He wouldn't tell me anymore but I should have pushed him. I knew he was holding something back. I should have kept a closer eye on him, asked him more questions."

Maia sighed heavily and exchanged a look with James. He shrugged and she looked at Regulus, "I'm sure you didn't think he knew all about this stupid stone, and that we was going to go after it."

"Well … no," Regulus admitted.

"It's not your fault," Maia told him.

Regulus wasn't sure what to say really and fell into silence, watching Maia watch over her son. She and James were both very grave looking, very sad, and he didn't know what to say – he was bad at emotions. He considered saying something about Voldemort, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

Instead, he told her, "Erm … if you do want to go to bed … you could use my chambers."

Maia smiled a little, appreciating that he was trying to help, "Thank you."

Regulus nodded. She looked sad – what would Sirius do in this situation, he wondered? Sirius always knew what to do. Sirius would probably give her a big hug. Regulus considered it, but ended up awkwardly patting her shoulder in silence.

Maia's lips twitched into a slight smile, "Thanks."


	13. Note

**Note**

**Hi everyone! I know it's been a couple of weeks since my last update, and I just want to assure you all that the next and last chapter is on its way, and apologise for the delay. **

**I was actually due to update today, and had written the longest chapter I've ever written, at nearly 20,000 words, only to discover when I went to upload it that the whole text has turned into hashtags :( I don't know if I'll be able to recover it, so may have to write it all again from scratch, which will cause some delays, but I hope to get it done soon as I was looking forward to getting to work on the sequel!**


	14. Waiting Impatiently

**Note: Sorry about the delay! I was about two sentences from finished when my computer crashed and I lost everything, which was very annoying. Originally this and the next chapter were one huge chapter to end the story but I've split it in two so you could all have an update sooner. The rest should be up shortly, then I can get started on Chamber of Secrets! This was quiet a difficult one, to get the emotions right and not be repetitive. As always, all comments appreciated.**

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Chapter Thirteen

Maia didn't sleep all night. Harry was sleeping soundly, and she hardly expected him to wake up in the middle of the night, but with everything that had happened, she just couldn't sleep. She sat beside his bed, thinking and worrying about Voldemort, and how they could have lost Harry, and what would happen when he woke up.

She was incredibly tired but couldn't possibly sleep, and beside her, James in exactly the same situation. It was around 7am when Madam Pomfrey came to check on Harry and informed them that there were no major changes in his condition but everything looked alright, and there was no reason to worry.

As they watched their sleeping son, James rested his hand on Maia's shoulder as he stood behind her, "I think perhaps we should go home and have some rest, now Madam Pomfrey's been to check on him, and we know he's alright for the time being."

"I … I don't know about leaving him," Maia frowned, turning to look at her husband.

"I know it's scary," James agreed, "but we need to have some rest, freshen up, check on things at home, and I'm sure everyone at home is dying to know how Harry's getting on."

Maia sighed and glanced between Harry and James, and she knew that he was right of course, but going home and leaving Harry would be pretty hard. Even though there was no change in his condition, being at the hospital meant she knew what was going on, and it felt like the best place to be.

"I suppose you're right," she said, "but we're not going home for long."

"Of course," James agreed.

Turning to Harry's bed, she smoothed down his hair and spoke softly, not sure how much he could hear in his state, "Ok sweetie, Your dad and I are going home but we'll be back soon, I promise, so you just get better for us."

Going home felt a little wrong and as James offered out his arm to her, Maia took hold of it but frowned, "Oh James, do you think he'll be alright. I don't want him to wake up alone and be scared or confused."

"Madam Pomfrey said he wouldn't be waking up today, and you agreed?" James pointed out.

"Y-yeah but-"

She wasn't quite sure was to say but it was alright because James seemed to understand – of course he would, they were going through the exact same thing. "Harry's going to be ok," he told her, "Madam Pomfrey will be here all the time, and I'm sure his friends will be along soon, if they're anything like we were."

Maia smiled slightly – she'd spent a lot of her own youth in the hospital wing, either as a patient or visiting one of her friends, and when one of them had been in the hospital, the others had always desperately tried to get in to see them, and had many arguments with the matron.

"He'll be ok," James repeated, and Maia wasn't sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.

It had been a quiet night sitting beside Harry's bed. Professor Dumbledore had been to check on them in the early hours, and had been unsurprised to find them both awake. He hadn't stayed long, but had told them they were welcome to come and go from the castle as they pleased whilst Harry was in this state.

Regulus had also been back to check on them only an hour ago, and had told them that he'd be in his rooms all weekend, and if they wanted to go home, they could use his fireplace. He told them if they wanted food, he'd have Kreacher fetch them something, and if he wanted anything at all, he'd be in his rooms or his office, and they shouldn't hesitate to come and find him.

Maia had never been to her brother's rooms before – like all witches and wizards who weren't teachers, she'd never come to the castle again after graduating, and she hadn't been to the rooms when they belonged to Horace Slughorn – students went to their teachers' offices, not their living quarters.

Regulus had told her his rooms were down in the dungeons, and the entrance to his living quarters was a portrait beside his office, and Maia thought she remembered where the office was.

Walking through the dungeons felt unnatural – the corridors were cold and unwelcoming, especially as it was so early and they were deserted. Maia shifted closer to James, wrapping her arm tighter around his, and feeling comforted somewhat as he wrapped an arm around her.

When they reached the Potion Master's office, Maia's eye fell on the large portrait to the left of it. In it, a young and beautiful witch was stirring a cauldron, and she looked up at them with what Maia could only describe as a seductive smile, looking straight at James. Maia didn't remember that particular portrait being down in the dungeons as a teenager, but then she'd never spent much time down there apart from her Potions lessons.

"Can I help?" the young witch asked.

James stared at her for a second, "Erm … yeah, we – I can't remember the password."

Maia rolled her eyes, recalling the password her brother had given her, "Felix Felicis."

The young witch looked James up and down and then sighed sadly before swinging open to allow them through. Maia led the way, and they found that behind the portrait was a short, narrow corridor, at the end of which was a heavy wooden door. Maia raised her hand and rapped on the door.

It reminded Maia slightly of the way to get into Professor Dumbledore's office – a password protected image, then a second door. It made sense really – Regulus would hardly want students to be able to knock on the doors of his living quarters whenever they wanted.

The door swung open only a few seconds later and Regulus stood there, dressed casually, messy hair and looking like he hadn't slept at all either – which Maia supposed he couldn't have done, since he had been there when Harry was first admitted, and been to check on them at the hospital wing twice throughout the night.

"How is he?" he asked.

"No change," Maia replied.

Regulus nodded, expecting such an answer, and then stepped back to let them into his room, "You're going home?" he asked.

"Not for long," Maia informed him as she stepped over the threshold and looked around the room in curiosity. Regulus' rooms were far more comfortable than the rest of dungeons – it was actually warm in here, cosy and inviting, and looked pretty luxurious. They were standing in his living room and Maia noted how minimalistic it was. In front of the fireplace were two leather sofas and a coffee table, and at the other side of the room was a square wooden table with tour chairs around it. It was piled high with quills, stacks of parchment and snacks and was the only messy part of his room. In the corner, was a door that must lead to his bedroom.

The only personal touch in his living room was a single framed photograph on the fireplace, of he, Sirius, Maia, Lyra and Harry. Maia recognised it as one from several Christmases ago, which Sirius had insisted upon having taken and Regulus complained about until Lyra, then only about 5, clambered onto his lap. The result was a photo of the three smiling Black siblings and Maia's two children.

As Regulus summoned a pot of floo powder from the fireplace, Maia's eyes fell on a pair of shoes under the coffee table. They were very feminine flat shoes, a rich purple, and covered in jewels. Thrown over the back of the sofa was a purple cloak, edged in jewels and glimmering in the light. Somehow Maia doubted that these belonged to her brother, and she glanced at James to see him smirking slightly – clearly he'd noticed them too.

"Regulus, do you have company?" Maia asked, a smile crossing her face.

Her tone was rather mischievous and her brother knew that this couldn't bode well for him. He looked at her with some confusion and then followed her line of vision to the cloak and shoes. Briefly, he considered claiming they were his.

Instead, he replied, "That's none of your business."

This only seemed to amuse his sister, who Merlin knew was in need of a laugh right now. Regulus knew he was blushing slightly and wished that didn't happen to him when his sister was teasing him, because she always knew when something was going on.

"Is it the lovely Astronomy professor?" Maia asked.

In all honesty, Aurora Sinistra was asleep in the next room, in his bed. They'd had their first date on Valentine's Day, after weeks of flirting, and had been out a few times since, but their dates were mostly spent dining privately together in one of their private chambers. Last night was the first night either of them had stayed over at the other's place, and Regulus had prepared for it to be a big night, full of romance and had been looking forward to progressing their relationship.

In the end however, after they'd had dinner, a good chat and a few drinks, and were ready to move into the bedroom, when Professor McGonagall had come to see him. It had been surprising to see her at his door so late but when she'd asked if he thought Harry had been acting odd recently, he'd quickly realised something wasn't right and he'd been off, writing to Dumbledore and helping him get Harry to the hospital wing, leaving Aurora in his rooms with a quick apology. He'd apologised profusely to her when he returned but she just shrugged and climbed into his bed, telling him to go check on his family if he wanted, and she'd still be there when he got back.

Regulus wasn't about to tell his sister all of this however, preferring her to have as little information as possible about his love life, and instead held the pot of floo powder out to her, "Get some sleep, won't you? And I'll be here when you want to come back."

Maia rolled her eyes at him, "It wouldn't kill you to talk to me about your life, you know."

Regulus simply smirked, leaning down to kiss her cheek, "See you soon, sister."

Maia accepted that they should leave and took a handful of floo powder, stepping into the fireplace and disappearing within seconds.

When she appeared in the fireplace at home, Maia startled Sirius and Remus, who were sitting together at the kitchen table, both looking like they hadn't slept in a long time, and they stared at her as if not sure she was there at first, but then both jumped to their feet.

"Harry?" Sirius asked immediately, stepping forward and taking hold of her shoulders.

After James and Maia arrived at the hospital and saw how Harry was, they'd thought they really ought to send word home so Sirius and Remus didn't go out of their minds, and Regulus had offered to do it, briefly appearing in the kitchen fireplace and assuring them that Harry would be alright, but the details were too intricate to talk about like this, and Maia promised them the full story later.

"Harry's going to be ok," Maia replied, meeting her brother's eyes, "h-he's unconscious, but Madam Pomfrey says that's ok, and he might be out for a couple of days, but n-no lasting damage."

She felt her voice about to break and forced herself to keep it together, but then Sirius let out such a huge sigh of relief and pulled her in, wrapped his arms around her and hugging her tightly, as James appeared in the fireplace.

"He'll be ok?" Sirius repeated, as Maia buried her face in his chest and closed her eyes.

"He should be," James said, though he looked very grave, "we just came home to have a nap and freshen up, then we'll be going back."

Remus sank back down into a chair and shook his head, "We've been up all night, worrying about him. We didn't know what to think, even after you said he was going to be ok, but ..."

James sighed, also sitting down, "I know. Madam Pomfrey says his body is healing, and it's not surprising that he's asleep. She thinks it will probably be Monday when he wakes up."

"Monday?!" Sirius repeated, letting go of Maia and turning around to stare at James.

"He's been through a lot," James replied miserably.

Maia sighed, glancing longingly at the door, "I think I need a lie down."

"Wait, what happened?" Sirius demanded.

Maia sighed at having to relive everything as they told the two men, but clearly they needed to know what had happened. She wondered what the expression on her face had been, because James looked up at her and knew exactly what she needed.

"Love, you don't you go to bed? I'll explain everything," he said.

Maia bit her bottom lip a little guiltily, knowing James needed a good sleep too, but he just smiled at her and added, "Go on, I'll be up soon."

Maia couldn't be bothered to walk up the two flights of stairs to their bedroom and instead apparated directly into her bedroom, which was something she always told Sirius off for, as he was fond of apparating around the house directly behind her and scaring her.

James came to bed not long after, stripping down to his underwear and climbing into bed behind her, where he threw an arm over her waist and curled up close behind her. He leaned over her to press a kiss to her cheek, and Maia – half asleep by now – smiled at the touch and mumbled, "Mmm, I love you."

James, who hadn't realised she was still awake, smiled gently and brushed her hair away from her neck, then gently kissed the exposed flesh there, making her sigh and move back closer to him. With a smile, James tightened his arm around her waist and closed his eyes.

Neither of them slept very well, staying in bed for just under three hours and flitting in an out of sleep until Maia finally gave up, too eager to go back to the hospital. She showered and changed into fresh clothes, and managed to eat a slice of toast whilst James was showering, and then they were going back to the hospital.

Lyra was awake by now and she came down for her breakfast in her pajamas, looking very sleepy. "Mum?" she asked, rubbing her eyes as she walked into the kitchen were Maia, Sirius and Remus stood.

"Morning sweetie," Maia smiled, walking over to hug her daughter. Knowing the state Harry was in made her hug her daughter tightly, for much longer than usual.

When she broke apart, Lyra asked, "What happened last night? Is Harry ok?"

Maia nodded, swallowing hard, "Harry's going to be fine. He got in an accident, and he's asleep in the hospital wing, but he's going to be ok."

"Right, ready to go?" James asked, striding into the room, "Padfoot, Moony, do you want to come with us and see him?"

Sirius looked like he'd never wanted anything more in his life and Remus was nodding, but before either of them could say anything, Maia frowned, "Well, hang on, what about Lyra?"

"I'll come too!" Lyra said excitedly – which was exactly the problem.

Maia sighed and looked at her husband, shaking her head, "I don't think that's such a good idea."

"But I want to come to Hogwarts! I'll be _good_!" Lyra insisted.

"Which is exactly, why you're not coming," Maia replied, "your brother is in the hospital wing, severely injured, and you just want to see him because it's an excuse to go to Hogwarts, and you'll be a nightmare. If you think we're taking you with us so you can sneak off and wander around the castle, then I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken."

"But-"

"Your mother's right," James interrupted the girl, "we've got enough on our plates without having to worry about you, angel, so I don't think you'll be coming with us."

Maia glanced at Sirius and Remus – it was unfair to ask them to stay at home and watch Lyra, when they were so desperate to see Harry, but they couldn't take Lyra with them either – she certainly wouldn't sit still and behave herself, and she'd be a nightmare if they took her and left her with Regulus too. She was bound to nag and want to explore, and Maia just couldn't cope with it. Neither could she nor James could stay home with Lyra either.

"But … what do we do?" Maia frowned, as she came to the realisation that they'd didn't really have any options.

Maia had never really noticed that they didn't have too many friends to call on, since she, James, Sirius and Remus were so close. Harry sometimes stayed with Neville, but they could hardly call on Augusta Longbottom to look about Lyra – Augusta only really tolerated any of them because they'd been Frank's friends and Neville loved being at Harry's house.

Maia's Healer colleagues were all good people, but they didn't mix outside work, and James had a good relationship with his Aurors, but besides Tonks and Sirius, didn't mix with them socially either. Just as she realised it, Remus said it out loud.

"Well, how about Tonks?"

Grinning at the mention of the woman she looked up to as a cool big sister, Lyra nodded, "Mum, you can leave me with Tonks. I'll be good, I promise."

"We have to find out what she's up to today first," James laughed, leaning down to kiss Lyra's forehead before kneeling in front of the fire and reaching for a pot of floo powder.

In the Tonks household, only Ted was home. He told them that Andromeda and Nymphadora had gone out shopping, but should only be a couple of hours at the very most, so it was decided that since Lyra hardly knew Ted, Remus and Sirius would look after her and then take her to the Tonks' when Andromeda and Nymphadora got home, then Sirius and Remus could join James and Maia at the school.

After arriving back in her brother's rooms, one of the first things Maia did was look to see if there were any signs that he had company, but the jewelled shoes and cloak from earlier had disappeared, and it seemed that her brother's girlfriend was not around.

"Sirius and Remus will be coming later in the morning," Maia informed her brother.

"That's fine," he told her, leaning down to offer James a hand, as he'd slipped in the unfamiliar fireplace and fallen down. After hauling his brother-in-law to his feet, he added, "I'll be here all morning. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask, will you?"

"Thanks mate," James nodded, patting the man on the back – their relationship was polite and even friendly enough but they'd never become friends in the way Maia and Sirius were with him, and it wasn't too surprising.

"James come _on, _I need to see him," Maia sighed impatiently, one hand on the door handle.

"Yes I know, me too," James told her, nodding a goodbye to Regulus and crossing the room.

Meanwhile in the hospital wing, three very guilty young Gryffindors were sitting by Harry's bed. Ron had been admitted last night, patched up and allowed to go that morning with no injuries apart from a few scratches, and Hermione had been completely unscathed.

Ron, Hermione and Neville had been desperate to see Harry this morning and Madam Pomfrey had been reluctant to let them in at first, but they eventually nagged so much that she told them they could have a few minutes, as long as they were very quiet, since Harry was sleeping and she had a few other patients who needed rest.

The three first-years were incredibly worried about their friend and all felt like it was their fault – though to be fair, Neville had tried to stop them as they sneaked out, only for Hermione to petrify him, so he couldn't. But still, maybe if he'd tried harder, he could have stopped it all earlier – months ago, when everything was still an investigation and before it had gone too far. The three of them were also incredibly curious, as Harry was the only person who knew what had happened in the chamber between he and Quirrell.

The hospital wing was very quiet, so the footsteps of two people approaching – particularly the clacking of a low heel – were very difficult to miss, and unsurprisingly it was Hermione who noticed first.

She looked up to see a couple walking towards them – adults, but strangers, not Hogwarts staff. Both looked very serious – the tall man in charcoal grey robes, with dark messy hair and glasses, and on his arm, a woman dressed in deep blue, with curly hair tumbling around her shoulders. The woman was elegant, beautiful, and they were walking this was, into the hospital wing. Though Hermione had never met Mr and Mrs Potter, there was little doubt in her mind that this was them. She thought she might have seen a picture of them in the newspaper before, but she could have guessed anyway. Harry was extraordinarily like his father, and his mother bore some resemblance to Professor Black. Harry's mother was beautiful, and his father a handsome man, and Hermione was sure if they were smiling, they'd both be radiant.

Ron and Neville had noticed the couple now, and Neville looked a little scared as he got to his feet, "A-aunt Maia ...Uncle James ..."

"Oh _Neville_," Maia sighed as she and James reached Harry's bed, wasting no time in wrapping her arm around him and hugging him, "I'm glad you're alright."

Neville felt even guiltier – he was fine, and if he'd only been able to convince Harry to leave well enough alone, then Harry would be fine too, instead of here injured, and in Merlin knew what state.

"I wasn't with him," Neville said.

"No, I know," Maia said, letting go of him and glancing over at the bed to see Harry still sleeping, "but I'm still glad to see that one of my boys is alright."

"You know?" Neville repeated, gulping.

Hermione knew of course that Harry's parents were Neville's godparents, and the boys sometimes referred to silly things Harry's parents or uncles had done, but it was often easy to forget that Neville and Harry had known each other their whole lives. But seeing Mrs Potter embrace Neville like he was her own son, and hear him call them "Aunt" and "Uncle" made it seem much more. Hermione also noted that Harry's unusual grey eyes, which she'd only ever seen on Professor Black, came from his mother.

Hermione suddenly realised that the Potters had turned to she and Ron, and Mrs Potter was looking at Ron.

"Good to see you again Ron," she said, "although I suppose not under these circumstances …"

Ron simply nodded, not sure what he should really say – he too was starting to feel a bit guilty, wondering if he'd urged Harry on, and he was partly responsible for their son being here.

Mr Potter turned to look at Hermione and smiled slightly, "And you must be Hermione Granger?"

Hermione nodded, feeling a little awkward in front of someone's parents, "Um, yes Mr Potter."

"James," he corrected, "and we've heard a lot about you."

Maia nodded, wishing they were meeting her son's friends under better circumstances, if they were going to be seeing a lot of them in the future. "Nice to meet you," she said.

"We … um … we can leave if you want, so you can spend some time with Harry," Hermione suggested, "I'm sure Madam Pomfrey won't want us all here."

"Not so fast," Maia replied, her voice casual enough but her husband knew that the look in her eyes was quite something else – like she was plotting, "Professor Dumbledore was able to provide us with a bit of information about what happened last night. He told us everything that was under that trap door, but there's a lot we don't know." Using her wand to draw up enough chairs for them all, she added, "We don't know, for instance, how Harry knew anything about the Philosopher's Stone in the first place. Perhaps you could fill us in."

"It's a long story," Ron said, a little nervously – they all knew they might have stopped something terrible from happening, but it didn't change the fact that they'd broken dozens of rules, and he wasn't sure how Mr and Mrs Potter would relax.

"We have plenty of time," Maia replied, sitting down in the chair closest to Harry's bed.

Neville took it upon himself to explain most of the story, for which Ron and Hermione were grateful. There were few interruptions from James and Maia, who listened to the story intently, all the details about how they'd first stumbled upon Fluffy by accident, to how they'd uncovered more and more, and how Hagrid had accidentally helped them.

When Neville was finished, ending his story, "And then we all went to bed, but Harry, Ron and Hermione sneaked out and … then I think you know the rest? I'm sorry … I tried to stop him."

"It's not your fault," Maia replied soothingly, "he's as stubborn as his father, I'm afraid. I know there was probably know changing his mind, once he'd decided to go after the Stone."

James pretended to look offended and added, "You're just as stubborn as he is."

Maia rolled her eyes and turned back to the three first years, continuing, "I know you couldn't have changed his mind once he'd decided to go through that damned trap door, and I know the three of you went through to stop terrible things from happening, but maybe you should have gone to someone earlier."

"We went to Professor McGonagall yesterday, but she said the Stone was safe," Ron reminded her.

Maia smiled, not wanting to scold the children because what they'd all done was incredibly brave, and very well intentioned, but it was very dangerous and she wanted to make sure they didn't put themselves in a situation like that ever again. "I know," she said, "but maybe next time – and I hope to Merlin that there isn't a next time – you could seek help earlier. You could have tried going to Reg-Professor Black too, you know. He'll always be there for Harry."

"We should have left well enough alone," Hermione agreed.

Maia shrugged, "Well … I don't know about _that. _Thanks to all your sneaking around and meddling, you did stop Voldemort-" Neville and Ron flinched violently at the name, and Hermione grimaced, but Maia continued as if they hadn't reacted at all, "from getting hold of the Stone, which is a very good thing. Just … maybe next time go to a teacher as soon as you think there's not something going on."

No-one could really argue with that advice, and they fell into a brief silence before James suddenly looked at Neville, a slight frown on his face, and sounding very curious, "Neville? Why exactly _weren't_ you with the others? I know you tried to stop them, so did you just go back to bed when you couldn't?"

"No," Neville replied instantly, before blushing a bright red, "I … erm … Hermione petrified me."

"What?" James spluttered, laughing until, Maia nudged him to make him shut up, sure laughing wouldn't make Neville feel any better, but smiling because it _was_ a bit funny.

Neville shrugged and repeated, "She petrified me so I couldn't stop them."

Hermione looked rather guilty at the mention of the whole thing, and she shrugged, trying to defend herself, "Oh Neville, you _know_ I'm sorry, I just … we didn't want Quirrell to get the Stone."

Maia couldn't help but smirk slightly – Hermione Granger was certainly one fierce little witch, and nothing was going to stand in her way.

After telling the whole story, it wasn't long before Madam Pomfrey came over to check on Harry again, and said she really thought it ought to be family only, while Harry was in such a delicate condition, so the children said goodbye to Mr and Mrs Potter and left, but Maia had a feeling they'd be back, begging to be let in again, before long.

"I was sort of hoping he'd have woken up while we were gone," James sighed, absent mindedly fiddling with the bed sheet where it hung over the edge of the bed when he and his wife were alone with their son, "silly, I know."

"No," Maia sighed, unable to take her eyes off Harry, "I had hoped so too – it must be natural. We want him to wake up so much that we hope he will at any minute, despite the medical advice."

James was now gripping the railings of the bed so tightly that his knuckles were white, and Maia knew exactly how anxious he was, because she was incredibly worried too. She reached out and gently laid her hand over his and at her touch, his fingers relaxed slightly, enough for her to take hold of his hand.

They sat together quietly for the most part, just watching Harry sleep and thinking about everything that had happened. They didn't speak about it much, both too busy thinking and worrying, and wondering what on earth they were going to say to their son when he woke up.

Remus and Sirius arrived two hours after James and Maia had, and it only took Sirius about five seconds to be told off for for running from the hospital doors to Harry's bedside. He managed to pacify Madam Pomfrey though with an overly flirtatious apology and a wink though.

The four adults sat around Harry's bed quietly – Sirius and Remus could tell that James and Maia were in mood for joking around, and neither were they, but none of them were used to being in such a difficult situation.

Regulus came to see them not long after Sirius and Remus' arrival and asked them if they'd like some lunch. Maia refused almost immediately, as she didn't want to leave Harry, and Sirius offered to stay with her, whilst Remus and James took Regulus up on his offer and went to Regulus' rooms for something to eat.

Sirius tried to crack a few jokes to make his sister smile but it soon became clear that it wasn't really working although she gave him a weak smile, and he gave up, instead just being there for her and chatting a bit.

The rest of the afternoon was a little more lively. It seemed that although Maia couldn't concentrate on anything around her except Harry, and was barely listening to the conversations around her, James, Sirius and Remus couldn't cope with the same atmosphere and were making idle talk, one of them occasionally cracking a job in an effort to make it slightly easier.

Professor Dumbledore came to visit in the middle of the afternoon, though he had little to stay and didn't stay long. Professor McGonagall also came to visit them an hour or so later having heard they were here, and she came to offer them her hopes that Harry would get well soon. She'd always been fond of them all, but hadn't seen them in years, and Maia thought it was nice to see her.

By now word had started to spread that something had happened to Harry Potter, and a few people had tried to get in to see him, pausing Madam Pomfrey to act like a doorperson for most of the day. Some people had sent him presents – boxes of sweets and chocolates, which were piling up on the table at the bottom of his bed.

By the evening, Maia thought she was going to go mad, sitting here in the hospital waiting for her boy to wake up, but she couldn't contemplate leaving him. She was terrified of him waking up panicked and afraid after his encounter with Voldemort and Quirrell, and she needed to be here.

The three men were talking about something or other, but she wasn't listening, when they were approached again, this time by Regulus.

"Any change?" were his first words.

"None," Sirius replied.

"Well, it's dinner time," Regulus announced, though they could have guessed that by the throngs of students passing the door to the hospital wing, on their way to the dining room.

"Great," Sirius grinned, "I'm starving!"

Regulus usually ate all his meals at the teacher's table in the Great Hall, though on weekends it was more relaxed and he sometimes ate privately with Aurora in his rooms or hers. Now his family were here, he would take care of them and try to make their visit easier, and that meant taking care of their meals so they didn't have to.

Regulus soon noticed his sister's completely disengagement from everything around her – in fact she hadn't even acknowledged his arrival and he brushed past Remus and James to go stand beside her, where she was the only person standing up, leaning against the railings of Harry's bed.

"What do you want for dinner?" he asked her, "I can have Kreacher bring us anything you want."

Maia grimaced at the mention of her brother's house-elf, who had been horrible to she and Sirius the whole time they'd been growing up at Grimmauld Place. Kreacher had always adored Regulus though, and had been only too eager to pass into his service when, after their father's death, Sirius decided he didn't want him. Kreacher was very happy living and working in the castle – although Maia couldn't imagine that he worked in the kitchens in the same way that the rest of the house-elves did. He probably just sat there, waiting for Regulus to summon him, and answering to no-one else.

"I'm not hungry," she replied, looking at him for the first time.

"It's dinner time, what do you want?" Regulus replied, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Thank you, I'm not hungry," Maia repeated, fixing him with a look that said she didn't want to be messed with, "if you lot want something to eat, then by all means _go_."

Regulus sighed and looked over at the other men, who were all looking highly interested at seeing Regulus try to take Maia on. Normally that role fell to James or Sirius, and occasionally Remus. It was unusual to see Regulus - being the younger brother, who she saw the least of - trying to be in control, and they certainly both had the same stubborn personality.

"If you want to go ahead, we'll catch you up," Regulus told them.

James hesitated but Regulus sounded confident enough, and Sirius stood up, resting a hand on James' arm, "C'mon," he said, "let's take a stroll through the slimy dungeons."

"You should have outgrown house rivalry by now," Remus chided, though he was smiling, as she three of them left, James glancing over his shoulder at Maia, though Sirius assured him Regulus had probably got it handled.

When they were left alone together, Regulus repeated, "Come on now, you have to eat something. You had all of three hours sleep earlier, a tiny bit of breakfast, and no lunch. You need some energy, or you're going to make yourself ill. Let's go."

Maia frowned at him, "I'm fine. I don't want to leave Harry."

"He's not going anywhere," Regulus pointed out, "if anything happens, Madam Pomfrey is going to be here the whole time."

"You're not in charge of me," Maia told him, aware that her brother's jaw was setting as if steeling himself for a fight.

"I'm aware of that, but you're being ridiculous," Regulus told her firmly, "what good is sitting here, refusing to leave, not eating, not sleeping going to do? You know he's going to be fine, he's just taking some time to recover. You're going to make yourself ill and then you'll be useless when he wakes up and he needs you there, because he _is_ going to need you. Now, let's go, you need to at least have something to eat, keep your energy up."

Maia regarded her brother curiously. She'd never had a conversation about emotions with him, and she never really went to him for comfort, and she was surprised to hear him offer such a sensible argument. She sighed, "If I eat dinner, will you stop pestering me?"

"Yes, if I think you're looking after yourself," Regulus told her, "come on."

Maia somewhat appreciated her brother's brand of "help." It was far more direct than either James or Sirius would have been with her, and they would probably have cuddled her and been very sweet and affectionate, and it was actually rather helpful to have Regulus be so straightforward.

Regulus offered out his arm to her, and Maia smiled slightly. Regulus was often a little awkward with affection and emotions, but he always kissed her cheek in greeting and showed he cared in his own ways. She put her arm through his and couldn't miss the triumphant look on his face as they started to walk.

"I know I'm being crazy," Maia said, "but you'll understand one day."

Regulus smirked slightly, "What, when I have kids of my own? I think that's some way off."

On their way down to the dungeons, they passed a few students who had already finished their day, and all gave their Professor and this strange woman a curious look. To the students, Professor Black appeared to be a firm but fair, and very private man, and it was strange to imagine him being affectionate towards anyone.

Even Regulus' relationship with the astronomy professor was a complete secret to everyone – apart from a few of the other professors – and that was exactly how they liked it, so they didn't have anyone harassing them. They'd probably disclose it when it became more serious, Regulus had always thought. In fact, pupils rarely even saw them talking – the dungeons where he taught were so far away from the tower she taught in, and their fixed dinner places were at opposite ends of the table. Regulus sat on the left, between Professor Trelawny and the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, which at least provided him with some variety year on year. Aurora sat on the other end of the table, between Professor Vector and Professor Burbage.

"You can sleep here tonight, if you want," Regulus told Maia, steering them around a corner, "you can have my room, and I'll make a bed in the living room."

Maia smiled at his generosity and looked at his profile as they walked, "You're sure your girlfriend won't mind?"

"Her name, since you've forgotten it, is Aurora. And she doesn't live with me," Regulus told her, rolling his eyes at her trying to pry information about his love life out of him, "besides, it wouldn't matter if she did. If my dearest sister needs to stay over, then she shall."

Impressed, Maia positively beamed at him, "Regulus, you're really quite soft, aren't you?"

Unable to resist smiling back, he replied, "Well, just don't tell anyone."

He gave the password to the beautiful young portrait witch who guarded his room, and as always, she gave him her most dazzling smile, before swinging forward to let them both in. He had a peculiar relationship with the portrait – the witch (Zelena) has guarded his door almost as long as he'd been Potions Master. When he first moved in, the portrait had been a very grumpy old man who had been fond of Slughorn and took an almost instant disliking to Regulus, so had had to be moved. Serena was a temperamental thing – she liked to flirt with him and she was fiercely protective of him, but she sulked if he didn't pay her enough attention, or be polite enough, or if women came into his room. She was often sulky when Aurora came over.

Regulus led Maia down the corridor to his room and then pushed open the door, where they found James, Sirius and Remus sitting around the wooden table to the left of the doorway.

"I see you decided to join us," Sirius said mildly, as James pulled out the chair next to him.

Maia took the seat and shrugged at her twin, "Well, Regulus said I could choose what we have for dinner."

Sirius sighed very dramatically, "But _I_ wanted to choose."

Regulus chuckled at his elder brother, then snapped his fingers, saying very clearly, "Kreacher."

A loud crack sounded around the room only a second later, and Kreacher appeared before them. Maia hadn't seen Kreacher in about 15 years but he looked almost exactly the same. She hated him – he'd adored her mother and father, and she'd hated them, and the house-elf had hated she and Sirius.

Upon seeing Maia and Sirius, the old house-elf did a double-take, his eyes bulging out of the sockets, then he left out a terrible strangled sound.

"Traitors!" he shouted, easily recognising them despite the time gone past, "traitors in my Master's chambers! Scum who-"

"Kreacher, shut up!" Regulus said very firmly, in a tone he apparently never used with house-elf, because he looked alarmed. Or perhaps he was alarmed at suddenly seeing the Black twins after such a long time.

Regulus gave Kreacher his orders very firmly, telling him exactly what he was to bring them from the kitchens and dismissing him quickly, to stop him insulting anyone further, and to make everyone feel more comfortable.

After dinner, it was back to the hospital wing for James and Maia, though Remus and Sirius went home. Or rather, to pick Lyra up from the Tonks' house and then go home. James and Maia promised to be in touch soon, but now the idea had been planted, Maia knew she wanted to sleep over at the castle, and she was sure James would agree to it. Lyra would be fine though, she told herself, though she felt guilty about not going home to her daughter.

She and James went back to the hospital wing until about around 9pm, when Madam Pomfrey came around to do the last checks on everyone in her care. They were both tired but kept staring hopefully at Harry's bed, willing him to wake up. It seemed that James couldn't cope with the silence, because he kept making small talk, but Maia was happy enough to indulge him because she knew it would make him feel better, but she'd have been happy enough to sit in silence, watching Harry sleep and imagining how the conversation would go when he woke up.

They spoke to Lyra in Regulus' fireplace that night, and after asking about Harry, Lyra proceeded to gush about the fun day she'd spent with Tonks, playing in the garden until it was dark. Lyra sounded happy enough, and James and Maia promised that they'd come home tomorrow, and asked her to be good for her uncle and godfather.

Going to sleep that night felt strange.

Maia stood in the middle of her brother's bedroom and shrugged out of her robes, having said goodnight to Regulus and left him making up a bed in the living room. James had already stripped down to just his underwear and he patted the bed beside him.

"Come here," he said, laying on his back and staring up at the ceiling.

Maia was too busy looking curiously around her brother's room. Like the rest of his living quarters, it was minimalistic, but all the furniture was made up of beautifully carved dark wood. His curtains and bedding were emerald green, and the wall opposite the bed was made up almost entirely of bookcases filled from top to bottom. There were no signs of potions or anything, but Maia assumed they'd all be in his office, or the Potions classroom.

Eyes finally falling on her husband, she smiled slightly and climbed into bed beside him. "I don't know if I like you draped in green," she mused.

"Ah, of course you do, you'd like me draped in anything," James replied cheekily, as Maia shuffled over to him, resting her head head on his chest. He put an arm around her, his hand resting on her back, fingers threading through her hair.

"Shut up," Maia mumbled, though she was smiling, "sleeping in the dungeons is _weird_."

"It's actually quite nice down here though," James pointed out, "I always thought it would be horrible and slimy in the dungeons. The corridors are cold and unwelcoming … just thought it would extend to the whole place."

"I suppose it wouldn't make sense for the Slytherins to live in squalor," Maia pointed out, "their parents would be complaining within a week. And the staff are hardly going to be made to live in horrible rooms. It actually _is_ cosy here … it's just a bit too green."

"Well, I love you even in green," James replied, pressing a kiss to her forehead, "in fact, you're _stunning_ in green, even though you don't wear it much."

"I hope tomorrow's the day," Maia sighed, though she knew it was far more likely to be Monday, since Madam Pomfrey had specifically said Monday, but she couldn't help but hope.

"Me too." After a short silence, James said, "Regulus and the astronomy professor … what exactly do you think they've got going on? D'you think it's serious?"

"I don't know," Maia replied, closing her eyes and wrapping her arm around his waist, feeling comforted by his skin against hers, "you know what he's like – he probably wouldn't tell us if it was. It must be going ok though. You know, the cloak, the shoes we saw? She obviously spends time here."

"D'you think they've _been_ together … here?"

Shocked by the question, Maia lifted her cheek from his chest to look up at him, her face contorted with disgust, "Why would you _say_ something like that? That's – _ew_, that's my _brother_."

James chuckled, moving his hand to her cheek, brushing some of her hair away from her face, "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. I love you?" he offered.

Maia shook her head at him fondly, settling back down with her head against his chest and curling up ready for sleep, "I love you too."

"Do you think he'll ever let us meet her? I mean, properly," James asked, one large hand now resting on the back of her head, tangling his fingers in her curls.

Maia sighed, "Oh I don't know. It wouldn't surprise me if he turned up for dinner one Sunday and announced he'd gotten married months ago but didn't want the fuss of inviting anyone."

Sunday was much the same as Saturday had been.

James and Maia sat by Harry's bed all day, and it was far more torturous than the day before had been, as they desperately waited for their son to get better. Maia supposed she should really have more patience than this, for someone who worked in a hospital and saw cases likes this all the time, but it was different when it was her own child.

In the morning, there was a loud commotion at the entrance to the hospital wing. James and Maia had had the curtains drawn around Harry's bed for much of their time at his bedside, to award them a little privacy, but James now pulled them back so they could see what was going on. The few patients in the beds – there were only two besides Harry, and neither of them seemed very injured – looked at the doorway, alarmed, as did their few visitors – two pupils per student – all looked towards the doorway.

"Wood, this is just ridiculous! I assume Professor McGonagall told you that Potter is in no state to play quidditch! Really, there was no point postponing the match from yesterday, because I told everyone he would not be playing today either!"

Maia was surprised to see six figures standing in the doorway – three boys and three girls. All of them looked older than Harry, though she couldn't see their faces properly. Two of the boys were built exactly the same, with flaming ginger hair, and Maia was sure they were twins. In which case, it was quite likely that they were Ron's brothers.

The tallest boy, whose Scottish accent carried across the wing, argued, "Madam Pomfrey, we're not here to drag him out of bed to play quidditch. We just … we thought we'd come and see him, before the match."

"He's our good luck charm," one of the red-headed twins said.

"No!" Madam Pomfrey said very firmly, "the boy is resting, he does not need an entire quidditch team harassing my whole wing!"

"Technically, we're not a full quidditch team-" the twin who had already spoken said.

"-as there's only six of us," finished the other.

James and Maia were incredibly curious about the situation, but James reacted first, stepping away from Harry's bed and striding towards the entrance to the hospital wing. Maia followed, and when they reached the group, Madam Pomfrey turned to looked at them, her cheeks flushed.

"Mr and Mrs Potter, I'm so sorry for the disturbance," the matron said.

"It's alright," Maia told the matron, "we'll just have a word with them."

Madam Pomfrey sighed and walked away, leaving them to it.

James shook his head, a genuine grin crossing his face as he looked at the students in front of them, "You're the Gryffindor quidditch team?" he asked, beyond excited, and Maia could only smile at him.

The tallest and oldest boy, who seemed to be in charge and was probably the captain, nodded, "Aye. You're Harry's parents? _You're_ James Potter?"

The boy sounded almost in awe and Maia fought the urge to roll her eyes – the last thing her husband needed was an ego boost. When James nodded, the boy replied, "I … I've seen your trophies. You were quidditch captain for three years. You were one of the best chasers of your time."

"Wood, you _do_ know you're saying this out loud?" a dark skinned girl with long braids asked, as the whole team looked amused. Maia had heard Harry say Wood was obsessed with the game, and clearly he'd read all about previous Gryffindor teams to try and make his the best.

"We should go," one of the other girls said – unbeknown to the Potters, this was Katie Bell, the daughter of their old school friend and quidditch team mate, Jimmy Bell, "we didn't mean to bother you, we just … wanted to see how Harry was, before the match."

"It's alright," Maia replied with a smile, "that's very sweet of you all." Turning her attention to the captain, there was a mischievous glint in her eyes as she introduced herself, "Maia Potter, by the way. I used to be Maia Black. I was one of the best chasers of my time too."

Wood stared at her for a second and then nodded, "I … yes, of course, I've seen your records too, I ..."

He didn't seem to know what to say, and the rest of his team were amused. One of the twins asked, "So, is Harry going to be ok?"

"And did he get our gift?" asked the other.

Maia looked at James uncertainly – plenty of people had sent Harry gifts, mainly chocolates and sweets, and plenty of get well soon notes, and there had been one very odd gift – a school toilet seat, which Madam Pomfrey had been disgusted by and taken away. James had thought it was hysterical, and the Healer in Maia had been unimpressed even as the former school troublemaker was amused.

"Erm … which gift _exactly_?" James asked, as the boy and his twin looked delighted, but everyone else was confused.

"The toilet seat," they chorused.

James grinned, and Maia smiled too. James ran a hand through his already messy hair and said, "Ah yes, stroke of genius, that one, although I'm afraid Madam Pomfrey confiscated it. Still, it gave us a good laugh."

"And Harry's going to be ok," Maia added, answering the first question, "he's just recovering now. I'm sure he'll be very sad to have missed the last quidditch match of the season."

"There'll be other matches," the girl who hadn't spoken yet said, "we just wanted to come and see how Harry was, so we should really leave you alone now. I hope he gets better soon."

"Thank you," Maia said softly, touched by the children thinking to come and call in on their young teammate, when they had a big game coming up and plenty of other things to think about, "good luck today."

Wood nodded, "Thanks. Without Harry, I don't know how good we'll be but … well, never mind. You know, you can see the quidditch pitch and hear the commentary from here," he added, looking hopefully at James. Maia rolled her eyes – clearly the boy had spent a lot of time looking up old Gryffindor captains and players or something, and been impressed by James' talents.

James grinned, "I'll keep an eye out. And an ear. Good luck."

They heard most of the match from their seats in the hospital wing, though they didn't really watch because it was difficult to see from so far away. Gryffindor were slaughtered without their star seeker, which was a shame as it meant what had been a good season was now ruined, and they had no chance of winning the Quidditch Cup, and Slytherin were victorious again. Though that was the least of James and Maia's worries really.

Professor Dumbledore came again in the middle of the day to check on Harry and offer a few kind words, again not staying long.

After the quidditch match, Ron, Hermione and Neville came to visit Harry again, and Madam Pomfrey was reluctant to let them in again, afraid of overcrowding, so James suggested to Maia that they have lunch with Regulus to allow the children to see Harry.

Maia was reluctant to leave but there was no way to say no, with Harry's three best friends, including her own godson, standing in front of her, so she gave in. Regulus was in high spirits because the outcome of the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw match meant that Slytherin had won the quidditch cup for the seventh or eight year in a row, and he was soon banned from gloating about it by James.

The family's usual Sunday dinner had of course been cancelled, and James and Maia ate some lunch with Regulus, before returning to the hospital wing, for a rather unremarkable afternoon.

By the late afternoon, they had decided to go home. Regulus had offered them another night in his rooms, but they both felt that they should go home and spend time with their daughter and recharge, getting new clothes and having a good shower.

Madam Pomfrey came around to do her rounds at 5pm and declared that Harry was progressing well, and she saw no reason why he wouldn't wake up tomorrow, and with the knowledge that Harry was safe enough, they decided to go home, with a view to return early in the morning. Both had gotten the day off work from St Mungo's and the Ministry of Magic respectively, though in James' case it was more a matter of just saying that he had an emergency and he couldn't come in. Sirius was more than capable of being acting head of the department in his stead.

Almost 24 hours after they left the hospital wing on Sunday, James and Maia were despairing.

Monday was the most difficult day so far because they'd been told Harry would probably wake up on Monday, so they'd been there bright and early, waiting for him to wake up at any moment, but in fact the wait was torturous.

Maia's biggest break down happened mid morning, as she clutched the safety railing on the side of the bed and closed her eyes. She and James had been talking about what on earth they would say to Harry when he woke up. Their main concern was how to deal with questions about Voldemort.

"What do we do, James?" Maia said, her voice almost a whisper. The curtains were drawn around Harry's cubicle and James had cast a charm around them so no-one could hear what they were talking about, but it didn't stop her from feeling like she should be quiet.

James thought himself a little better at keeping a level-head when it came to dark wizards, given it was his job, whereas Maia hadn't really had to think about Voldemort or his Death Eaters for many years. He could tell that panic was setting in by the tone of her voice, and he turned his chair inwards so he was facing her and reached out for her hand, wrapping his fingers around hers and pulling her hand onto his lap, where he held it firmly.

"Talk to me," he said, "tell me all your worries, so I can make them go away."

Maia appreciated the thought, but she shook her head at him, "I don't know that you can. Voldemort attacked our child. We always knew he would come back one day, but I'd hoped Harry would be older … that he'd understand everything, and by then we'd have formulated a plan to deal with him, or have worked out how to get rid of him for good. I never thought he'd have to face something like this as an _eleven year old boy_. What if this is _it_ now? Voldemort has proven he can come back – what if he does it again _soon_?"

"He … he won't," James said, though he had no way of knowing it.

"He _might_," Maia replied, unable to meet his eyes, "I just can't handle the thought of Voldemort coming back for our boy. He could have _died_. Voldemort wants our son dead. What if he just keeps coming after him, and we can't do anything to stop it!"

She was still just about whispering, but very harshly, and James ran his thumb across the back of her hand, trying to soothe her, "Shhh," he said gently, "we can't possibly predict what Voldemort is going to do, but I can tell you right now that I will _always_ do _everything_ in my power to protect you and our children."

"I know that," Maia replied, squeezing his hand, "but we've been through it before – we know what it was like. No amount of preparation can stop him, and I don't want Harry growing up wondering when Voldemort is going to come for him."

"He won't," James told her quietly, "he doesn't know about it all. He doesn't know that Voldemort is after him specifically, and there'll be no need for him to know for a long time, I hope."

"Me too. Jamie, I'm scared."

"I know love," James replied, tugging on her hand and nodding towards his lap with his head. Maia sighed and stood up, and James instantly wrapped his arms around her, manoeuvring her to sit on his lap and wrapping his arms around her. Usually she liked sitting in his lap – his arms were warm and strong and she liked that he liked to hold her close. "It's going to be alright."

"What are we doing?" Maia sighed, looking at Harry, "are we doing the right thing – bringing another child into the world when we've got all on with the two we've got, because Lyra's a little tearaway, and if Harry gets into trouble like this every year ..."

"Have you changed your mind?" James asked in alarm bringing one hand up to cup her jaw and gently turn her face towards him so their eyes met.

He looked hurt and upset, and Maia instantly felt guilty because she hadn't meant it.

"No, darling, no of course not," she told him, leaning into the touch as he stroked her cheek, "you _know_ how much I want this, it's just … no-one teaches you how to deal with things like this. No-one tells you how hard being a parent is going to be."

"I know," James replied, moving his hand from her face so he could wrap both arms around her waist, "now, listen to me – we can't control if and when Voldemort comes back, but there's nothing to say he's going to come back any time soon, and we can't let the fear stop us from living our lives. We got through the war last time, and we can do it again. We just have to face whatever comes our way, but we face it together."

He was right, but then again, he was always right. Maia didn't know what to say in response and she just nodded, then leaned in to kiss his lips briefly.

"Together," she repeated, seeking strength from his lovely hazel eyes.

"You don't have to be scared," James told her, reaching up to brush some hair away from her face, "Harry's going to be ok. He's got two very strong parents to guide him through, and he's home for summer in a few days, so we can keep an eye on him and be there for him."

Maia nodded, "I'm so glad it's the end of term. It's going to be so lovely to have him back with us."

"It is," James replied, feeling like they were veering out of dangerous topics now and feeling Maia relax against him, "we can spend the whole summer messing about in the gardens, and on the beach, and at quidditch matches, like we did when he was still at home – well, when we're not working. And we'll be able to keep an eye on him, and look after him, and _everything will be fine_."

"Sounds great," Maia said, picturing them all playing quidditch in the gardens and having her family complete again.

"And _maybe_ by the end of the summer, James Junior will make an appearance," James added, unable to resist looking longingly down at Maia's flat stomach, hoping their efforts to conceive would soon pay off.

"Or Maia junior," Maia pointed out, "which, by the way is _not _what we're naming him or her."

James chuckled, "We'll probably have to name this one after Sirius, since we got away with not naming the first two after him."

Maia was still incredibly worried about Harry and desperate for him to wake up, but from then on the day seemed better. She was more hopeful than anything else, and excited about seeing her son healthy and well. James however, was getting worse as the day went along.

James' breakdown happened in the middle of the afternoon. Maia was standing by Harry's head, gently combing her fingers through his hair and James, standing at her side, let out a big sigh.

"Why is he still asleep?" James frowned, turning to look at his wife, "shouldn't he be awake by now?"

"She said Monday," Maia told him, "she just didn't say when exactly."

"What if she was wrong? What if it's not today? What if it's not at all?" James asked, his voice rushed and panicked.

"Hey," Maia soothed, turning to face him and resting her hands on his arms, "it's going to be ok. Madam Pomfrey thought it would be today, because he's doing so well. We have to be patient now."

Maia wasn't sure she was convincing him, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned down to hug her, seeking any sort of comfort and burying his face in her hair. Maia wrapped her arms around him and held him. She often felt like James spent more time comforting and looking after her than she did him, and it was nice to be able to help him, though she wished everything was alright and she didn't have to.

"Madam Pomfrey knows what she's talking about, darling," Maia told him softly, "she said he'll wake up, and he will. If he hasn't yet, that's because he's not ready."

"I know but I'm so tired of waiting," James said, his voice muffled by her hair.

Maia's eyes fell on Harry as she looked over James' shoulder, still holding him close, rubbing his back in circles. She didn't have enough words to comfort him, but he didn't seem to need them as she could feel him relaxing against her. As she opened her mouth, about to usher some comforting words, she thought she saw Harry's eyes flickering, as if the were about to open, and she went very still.

James must have noticed her sudden stiffness, as he pulled back just enough to be able to see her face. Maia looked past him, and this time, she was sure Harry's eyes had very briefly flickered open and closed again.

"He's waking up. James, he's waking up!" she announced, pushing him back gently, just enough so she could move from his arms to the bedside, "he's waking up!"

James breathed a sigh of relief, "He's waking up!"


	15. The End

Chapter Fourteen

Maia watched as Harry's eyelids flickered and he screwed his face up, either adjusting to the light or in pain, or most likely both. His fingers were twitching and his whole body shifted, trying to wake up.

"Harry?" Maia said in her most gentle bedside tone, "Harry sweetie, it's Mum-"

"And Dad!" James added quickly.

"We're here Harry," Maia said softly, "and you're safe, everything's ok."

Harry let out a groan as his eyes flickered for the last time and with what looked like a great amount of strength, he kept his eyes open long enough to meet hers, "M-Mum?"

"Yes sweetie, we're here," Maia said, unable to stop a smile cross her face and relief creep into her tone.

Harry blinked, an took a few seconds before opening his eyes again. Maia heard footsteps behind them and saw Professor Dumbledore approaching them. How he knew that Harry was waking up, she didn't know or care. Undoubtedly, Harry had questions only the headmaster could answer, but Harry's recovery came first and Dumbledore could get in line behind she and James.

When Harry opened his eyes this time, they stayed open and he stared at his mother, "Mum?" he repeated.

Maia beamed at having her son back and she breathed a huge sigh of relief, leaning somewhat awkwardly over the railings of the bed and threw her arms around him. "Oh _Harry_, we were so worried!"

Harry lifted his arms to return her embrace, somewhat confused, but he could tell his parents had been very worried by the desperation in her hug, and the kiss she left on his forehead, closing her eyes and lingering for a few moments.

When she pulled back, she noticed his eyes were very wide and he looked confused, meeting first his mother's eyes and then his father's. He seemed confused, as if he didn't quite remember what had happened, and he raised his eyes to the ceiling, trying to gauge his surroundings.

"You're in the hospital wing, son," James piped up, leaning over the bed to rest a hand on Harry's arm, drawing his attention, "but you're alright, and we're here for you."

Harry stared for a moment, and then something in him seemed to snap as he remembered why he was there in the first place, and he forced himself to sit up, "No, you don't understand – you _can't_ understand. I have to leave the … the _Stone … you wouldn't understand!_"

"No, you're staying right here," Maia replied, reaching out and putting her hand on his shoulder, pushing him back against the pillows.

"_No_ Mum, we're all going to be in danger," Harry protested, shaking his head and looking around for his glasses

Maia handed him his glasses and then told him, "We know all about the Philosopher's Stone. You're in the hospital wing but you're going to be alright and _everything_ is alright. There's no danger. You stopped it."

"What do you mean? You can't know about it all," Harry insisted, turning to Professor Dumbledore, "Sir, it was _Quirrell_! Quirrell has the Stone and we need to-"

"Calm yourself dear boy, your parents are right, and you are a little behind the times," Professor Dumbledore explained, "Quirrell does not have the Stone."

"Then who does? Sir, I-"

Maia interrupted, "Harry, calm down or Madam Pomfrey's going to throw us all out and then you won't have the answers to anything. I know you're confused but we'll explain everything to you. Just stay calm – you're in a hospital bed, and you're in recovery."

Harry still looked very confused but looking into his mother's eyes, he felt a bit better, especially as she reached out to brush some of his hair away from his eyes and he felt her soothing touch. "So … I'm in the hospital wing?"

"Yes sweetheart," Maia replied.

Harry seemed to accept this, looking around and his eyes settling on the table at the end of his bed, which was piled high with all of his gifts from friends and random pupils alike.

Following his line of vision, James told him, "You know how word spreads. Everyone knows you're in here and it seems you have a lot of friends out there. Mostly chocolates and sweets – we've already opened the Fizzing Whizzbees, sorry about that. Fred and George Weasley sent you a toilet seat but Madam Pomfrey confiscated it. Apparently it's unhygenic."

"It _is_," Maia pointed out, "although admittedly, it made us laugh."

"And I've been here … how long?"

"Three days," Maia supplied, "and believe me, your dad and I _do_ understand everything you're talking about, because we've had time to learn about the Stone and ask Ron, Hermione and Neville everything that went on."

Harry swallowed, wondering how much trouble he'd be in. He might have saved the Stone from being stolen but his parents were sure to focus more on the danger of what he'd done, and he was sure to get an earful once the headmaster left, he thought.

"But the Stone … what happened to it?" Harry asked urgently, looking at the headmaster, who smiled slightly.

"I see you are not to be distracted," Dumbledore said, "Professor Quirrell did not manage to take the Stone from you. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say."

"So, you got Hermione's owl?" Harry asked, as Maia and James watched with great attention, really just desperate to have Harry to themselves and for the headmaster to give Harry all the answers he needed, then go away.

Dumbledore replied, "We must have crossed in mid-air. No sooner had I reached London than it became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just left. Your uncle Regulus saw to that. I arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off you."

Maia winced at the thought of how easily she could have lost her son, and there must have been some of it on her face, or James must have felt exactly the same, because he took hold of her hand, interlocking his fingers with hers.

"I feared I might be too late," Dumbledore added, and Maia felt James' hand twitch.

"You nearly were," Harry replied, shaking his head, "I couldn't have kept him off the Stone much longer-"

Maia almost rolled her eyes – the Stone. The boy was clearly incredibly selfless, thinking of the safety of that damned Stone before himself, and it not even occurring to him that Dumbledore was talking about _him_.

Dumbledore corrected him, "Not the Stone, boy, you – the effort nearly killed you. It's why it's taken you three days to wake up. But you're alright, and as for the Stone, it has been destroyed."

"Destroyed? But you friend – Nicholas Flamel-"

Dumbledore interrupted Harry with a smile, "Oh, you know about Nicholas? You did do the whole thing properly, didn't you? Well, Nicholas and I have had a chat and agreed it's all for the best."

As Dumbledore assured Harry that Nicholas and his wife had led long, full lives and were happy enough with the situation, Maia frowned at the headmaster's tone. He seemed pleased that Harry and the others had researched the whole thing, found out the whole story and done it "properly." And he really shouldn't be – didn't he understand that her son could have died? Surely the things protecting the Stone should have been more difficult than they were, so three first years couldn't get past them.

On hearing Harry's next question, she snapped back to attention because Harry had started this question looking at Dumbledore but ended it turning to his parents. "Even if the Stone's gone, Voldemort has other ways of coming back, doesn't he? He's not gone for good, is he?"

Harry had grown up in a house where none of the adults had ever been afraid to say "Voldemort" and so had never hesitated to say it himself. They all hesitated, and James attempted to answer the question, "No, son, no he's not. He'll still be out there somewhere," he admitted, but he hesitated over what to say next and Dumbledore stepped in.

"He may be looking for another body to share. He is not truly alive, so he can't be killed. He left Quirrell to die – he shows as little mercy to his followers as to his enemies. But while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems like a losing battle next time – and if he is delayed again and again, he may never return to power."

Harry nodded, seeming to accept this, and Maia sincerely hoped that He would never return to power at all, let alone during her childrens life time, and while Harry was a child.

She was only glad that he didn't know the real reason Voldemort was after him – he assumed that when he was a baby, Voldemort had been after his parents, since they were powerful wizards who'd refused to join him and eluded him, and they wanted to destroy their family, including him. This time, he would assume Voldemort had tried to kill him because he was standing in the way of him and the Stone, but Maia knew there would come a day when Harry realised Voldemort was fixated on him, and then they'd have to let him know all about the prophecy.

Harry's next question came almost immediately, "And why couldn't Quirrell touch me? When he touched me, he got burnt and he … he crumbled."

"Your grandmother died to save you," Dumbledore explained, offering a twinkly-eyed smile to James, who was surprised at the mention of his wonderful mother. Dumbledore continued, "If there's one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it's love. He didn't realise love as powerful as your grandmother's love for your parents and for you leaves its own mark. To have been loved and protected so deeply, even though the loved one is gone, will give some protection forever. It is in your skin. Quirrell, full of hatred and greed and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason. It is agony to touch a person marked by something so good."

Maia felt tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of her dear mother-in-law and all the things they owed she and Charlus Potter. She glanced up at James to see him wearing a sad sort of smile as he also remembered them both.

Harry looked up at his parents in some confusion, "But … why did you never say? Why didn't you tell me that her sacrifice gave me this … special protection."

Maia smiled at him, at the innocence of his question and glanced up at James, who looked choked up, and she wasn't surprised because she felt a teat escape from her own eyes. She gave James' hand a little squeeze and told Harry, "Because we didn't _know_."

Dumbledore offered them a slight smile, "I had suspected but there was no point telling you when I wasn't sure."

Harry only had one more question – how had he been able to get the Stone out of the Mirror? Dumbledore answered it with a typical Dumbledore style answer about how one had truly wanted to find it but not use it could get to it, and with that, he left them alone, saying he was certain Mr and Mrs Potter had plenty to say to their son.

When they were left alone as a family, Harry waited to be told off but first his mother fussed over him.

"How do you feel, sweetheart?" she asked him, putting the back of her hand on his forehead and feeling his temperature, "are you in pain? Here, have a glass of water."

Harry drank the glass of water she forced on him and insisted that he wasn't in pain – well, maybe his head hurt a bit, but apart from that, he was fine, and he didn't need any medicine or any magic – he was fine. Maia plumped up his pillows, checked that he had everything he needed and then looked at James, something significant in her expression.

His father seemed to understand it immediately as he nodded, and they both turned to Harry.

Harry grimaced. "So, you know _everything_?"

"Oh yes," James replied.

"Then … am I in trouble?"

James couldn't help but grin – the boy was definitely his son. When he sobered up, he shook his head, "Well, I don't know about that but … honestly son, what were you _thinking_?"

Maia was somewhat relieved that her husband wasn't going to leave the discipline all down to her, as he often did, leaving her feeling like the bad guy all the time.

Harry replied, "I was thinking that if Voldemort got hold of the Stone, it would be bad news for everyone."

"Oh no, don't play that card," Maia told him, "we're not denying that what you did was incredibly brave, and if Quirrell had succeeded, and Voldemort had that Stone it would mean terrible things for us all, but you could have _died_. You don't have any idea how dangerous Voldemort really is, the things he's done … what you did was so dangerous. You got lucky, I hope you realise?"

"Mum, I had to!" Harry argued, "the danger was nothing compared to the danger _everyone_ would be in if I didn't do anything."

"Don't raise your voice at your mother," James said, his tone firm but not unkind, causing Harry to sigh and slump back against his pillows, desperate to make them understand, but Maia was desperate to make _him_ understand – he didn't really know what it had been like before. They'd never told him all the horrible things that happened, it was something children didn't need to know, but he knew enough.

Maia continued, "You didn't need to take it upon yourself to do this, though. It wasn't the responsibility of an eleven year old wizard, to go on a midnight quest against the darkest wizard who ever lived."

"I tried going to Dumbledore," Harry reasoned, "but he wasn't here, and then Professor McGonagall wouldn't listen, so really there was no choice. I couldn't just … do nothing."

"You could have not let it get this far," James pointed out, "we know that you and your friends spent months sneaking around, investigating it all. You could have gone to a teacher much earlier. You could have done it as soon as you thought there was something odd going on."

"And if you didn't want to go to Professor Dumbledore, you could have gone to your uncle," Maia added, "he might be your teacher, but he's family first. He'd have _listened_ to you."

Harry sighed, "Maybe, but we didn't know how. We only found Fluffy in the first place because we sneaked out for that stupid midnight duel. And then we saw the newspaper, about the Gringotts break in, and Hagrid let slip that some Nicholas Flamel was involved. Once we started we … just couldn't stop. We had to see it through."

Maia didn't know what to say to the boy and she sighed, "Sweetheart, you're too young for all of this. I don't think you realise just how lucky you were. You should have gone to your uncle as soon as you knew something was wrong. You certainly should have gone to him when you saw that _thing_ in the forest … when you saw _him_."

"What if ..."

"He'd have listened," Maia reiterated.

"We just don't want you to ever be in a position like this again," James added softly.

"Yeah, well that makes three of us," Harry agreed.

"I just can't believe you put yourself in this much danger," Maia told him, shaking her head, "you've no idea how worried we were. You're eleven years old and we just don't want you to ever put yourself in danger like this again. Not when there's people you can talk to who can help."

Harry groaned in frustration, "When you were my age, you put yourself in danger _too_. You broke all the rules to spend every month running around with a werewolf."

James' jaw set slightly and he looked angry, but then his face relaxed slightly but his tone was very firm, "That werewolf is your uncle, and it was completely different, and you know it. I was older than you, and the whole point of doing what I did was that I _wouldn't_ be in danger as an animal. Besides, just because your mother and I went to school and weren't perfect, doesn't mean we're not allowed to tell you when you're going wrong. We're your parents and it's our job."

"I had to save the Stone," Harry repeated.

"Harry, listen," Maia said, reaching out and resting a hand on his arm, "what you did as incredibly brave, and we're very proud of you for being so brave and standing up against the bad guys and all that, but we just want you to understand how dangerous this was, and how easily something could have gone wrong. We love you, and we don't want you to be hurt. We just want you to appreciate that if there's ever another … situation … you don't have to be the one to fix it. It's ok to slow down and seek help."

Harry couldn't really argue with this and he nodded, "So next time Voldemort possesses one of my teachers or something, I should pass it on to someone else?"

James grimaced, "There shouldn't be a next time. But if there is, you should definitely seek help. We were so worried about you."

"I didn't mean to worry you," Harry told them, now looking pretty apologetic.

Maia doubted Harry had thought about what she and James would think at all in his haste to save the Stone but she had nothing more to say to him on the matter – being 11 years old, she had to give him some leeway, and she knew his intentions had been good.

"We know, son," James replied.

"I'm … sorry," Harry said quietly, meeting his mother's eyes, "are you mad at me?"

Maia shook her head, "Oh you silly little lion, of course we're not mad at you. You're alright, and that's all that matters now, so come here."

With that, she leaned over the bed to hug him, wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes as she held him close, as best she could with the bed between them. Harry wrapped his arms around her too, hugging her back and feeling comforted by her warmth. He was ready to let go before she was, but his mother had always been a bit clingy and he couldn't blame her, given everything that had happened, so he let her fuss over him for a bit longer.

When she let go, her eyes were filled with tears, which she quickly blinked away, stepping back to allow James room to step in and hug their son.

"We just wanted to make you understand how important you are to us, and make sure nothing like this happens again," James told Harry as he leaned down to hug him.

"Now, you jut have to stay out of trouble for a few more days, then you'll be home," Maia told him.

Harry grinned, "I think I can do that."

As James was telling Harry about his various visitors – how Ron, Hermione and Neville had been there and were very worried, how the whole quidditch team had turned up, all of his uncles – there was a commotion from the doorway, and Madam Pomfrey was arguing with three first years.

"Absolutely not!" Madam Pomfrey said loudly, "the boy is resting!"

"_Please_, we won't be noisy," Neville protested.

Maia couldn't help but smile at Harry's three best friends and before she knew it, she was strolling towards them. As she walked towards them, Madam Pomfrey was very firmly telling them, "He has enough visitors with his parents here – he needs rest!"

From behind her, she heard Harry call out, "Oh please Madam Pomfrey, you let Professor Dumbledore in!"

"Quite a different matter," the matron protested, "he's the headmaster!"

Maia felt James stride up beside her, and he reached Madam Pomfrey and the children at the same time she did. Ron, Hermione and Neville looked desperate to get in and Maia couldn't certainly sympathise, recalling the amount of time she'd spent visiting James or Sirius, and occasionally Remus or Peter.

Madam Pomfrey was about to turn and apologise to the Potters, but after the incident with the Gryffindor team yesterday, and the way they were smiling at the children, she was quite sure that they weren't bothered at all.

"How's Harry?" Neville asked instantly upon seeing his godmother.

"He's going to be just fine," Maia replied with a smile.

"If he gets enough rest," Madam Pomfrey added.

"Poppy," James started, in a tone of voice that Maia knew was him trying to be charming, "Maia and I don't mind if the kids come in, and I'm sure it'll make Harry pretty happy. It might even make him rest easier."

Madam Pomfrey, to Maia's great surprise, smiled at James and gave in, "Well … if you're sure." To the children she added, "fifteen minutes, and that's all!"

"Of course," James agreed, "thanks very much."

Madam Pomfrey walked off and Maia rolled her eyes at her husband but in return received a grin, and then she turned to the three children and told them, "Come on then, Harry will be pleased to see you."

The three young Gryffindors almost ran to Harry's bedside, and the Potters were so relieved to have their son awake and well again that James reached out to slide his arm around Maia's waist a they casually strolled behind the children, back to Harry's bedside.

Maia watched the three fuss over Harry, Hermione throwing herself at him in a hug and Ron and Neville enthusiastically patting his arms and chatting away, all over the top of each other.

"Well," James said, his hand resting in the curve of Maia's waist and feeling closer to her than he had all weekend, now they knew their son was safe, "maybe we should leave you kids alone, so Madam Pomfrey doesn't have a fit at the amount of people around this bed."

Harry met his father's eyes and nodded gratefully and Maia understood – there was bound to be plenty that the children had to catch each other up on.

She added, "I suppose we should probably let your uncles know that you're alright – they'll be so thrilled to hear it. If you need us, we'll be with Uncle Regulus, down in the dungeons."

Hermione – being the only one who'd never met the Potters outside of the hospital wing – noticed that Mr and Mrs Potter looked much happier and even younger now the burden of Harry's health had been lifted from them. They were wrapped around each other in an affectionate way that her own parents rarely did, and they were sort of sweet.

"We won't be long," James added, grinning at the children, "now, don't be too noisy."

They found Regulus in his office and he was of course thrilled to hear that his nephew was safe. He ushered Maia into a chair and made her a cup of tea, telling her she could relax now, and everything was going to be alright. They contacted home, but Sirius was at work and they only reached Lyra and Remus, who were equally relieved to hear about Harry.

"You're welcome to stay the night again, if you want," Regulus offered, as Maia drained the last dregs of her tea, ready to go back to see Harry.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to swing another day off work," Maia told him, "we're always short-staffed as it is, especially for Healers-In-Charge."

James, sensing that she felt bad about it, shook his head at her, "Harry's fine now – it'll be alright if we're not here tomorrow."

"But … he's in hospital and we … we should be there," she protested lightly.

James held his hand out to her and replied, "We'll get in touch with the hospital then, but don't worry. I'm sure if we can't be here tomorrow, his friends will keep him company."

Maia nodded, putting her hand in his and telling her brother that they'd be back before too long.

In the end, it was decided that they would go home that evening, and they wouldn't be returning in the morning, so they wouldn't see Harry until he came home for summer in four days. Madam Pomfrey was keeping Harry in for another night or two, and since all the kids had finished their lesosns, and were just waiting for their exam results so they could go home, his friends would be able to keep him company tomorrow. Maia wasn't able to get another day off work, not when they were short-staffed and she knew Harry was going to be fine, and James, as head of his department, had agreed that he really couldn't take another day off – Tonks, his dearest protegee, had exams coming up, and they had a lot of work to do.

Hermione, Ron and Neville had left by the time Maia and James rejoined Harry in the hospital wing, no doubt forced out by the matron, and Harry's mood was noticeably cheerier.

They ate a bit of dinner together, brought to them by a nice little house-elf, and then Maia began to fuss over her son again.

Harry insisted he was fine, but Maia knew better – she'd grown up as the expert in bottling up her feelings, and everything going on around her, and she knew well enough to recognise it in her children.

"Fine," he sighed, "I'm shattered, and I have a bit of headache."

"You need to rest, that's why," Maia told him, taking his empty plate from him and putting it on his bedside table, ignoring James, who was opening a box of Fizzing Whizbees behind her and thinking she couldn't see him, "we should go home and let you sleep."

Harry opened his mouth to argue but he knew she was right, and before she knew it, Maia was saying goodbye to her son.

"So, you know we can't come by tomorrow," she told him.

Harry did know – she'd already told him about three times – but he just nodded, "I know. It's ok, Mum, I'm going to be fine. Ron, Hermione and Neville will be here all day, if Madam Pomfrey lets them, and I'll see you on Friday."

"Well, I'll send Uncle Regulus to check on you, and if there's anything wrong, make sure you _tell_ someone," Maia pressed, before smiling, "now, enjoy the leaving feast, fingers crossed for your exam results-"

"And stay out of trouble for the next four days," James finished.

"I can do that," Harry agreed.

Leaving Harry in the hospital wing felt strange, but Maia could reassure herself with the fact that there was nothing wrong with him now – he was only there for rest and recuperation, and he'd have his friends to keep him company, Madam Pomfrey to look after him, and Regulus to check in on him.

She was incredibly relieved he was going to be alright and it was time to go home and have a well-earned very long sleep before work in the morning, and she'd quite like to see her daughter for more than 5 minutes.

The witch who guarded the entrance to Regulus' rooms let them past, and as they made their way down the narrow corridor and stopped outside the heavy wooden door, Maia knock on it sharply.

On the other side of the door, there were voices – low and muffled, but Regulus clearly wasn't alone. Maia glanced at James and he'd clearly heard it too – so Regulus had company. Interesting. Maia mischievously hoped it was his girlfriend, who he was so secretive about.

It took him a few seconds longer than usual to open the door, and he looked a little panicked as his came face-to-face with his sister.

"You're, um, you're going home now?" he asked her.

"If you don't mind," Maia replied mildly.

"Of course," Regulus murmured, stepping backwards to let she and James in.

Regulus was dressed far more casually than usual, and as Maia stepped into the room, she saw the cause of the conversation they'd heard – Aurora Sinistra was sitting on the sofa with her dark hair pulled back into a pony-tail, a quill in her hand and a stack of parchment surrounding her.

On seeing the Potters, she set aside her parchment and made her way over to them, and Regulus – looking very much like he didn't want his two worlds to collide and have another conversation, after their very brief meeting in Hogsmeade – grudgingly gestured to his family.

"Aurora, you remember my sister Maia, and James, my brother-in-law," he said, fixing his eyes on Maia as if to try and warn her not to try and embarrass him, "and you two – Aurora Sinistra."

"Of course," James grinned his most charming grin – and Maia was sure he was doing it on purpose to annoy Regulus - and extended his hand to her, "nice to see you again."

Aurora went to shake his hand and James squeezed her hand with a smile.

"How's Harry?" the astronomy professor asked, "Regulus says he's woken up?"

"He's going to be fine, thank you," Maia replied, "he's just resting now."

"You must be very relieved," Aurora continued.

Maia liked Aurora Sinistra, she decided. The woman seemed quite comfortable talking to them, although the hardly knew them, and it was clear by Regulus' sort of nervous demeanour that he didn't really want them to talk too much. It might seem rude to many women - as if he was trying to hide her, but Maia knew very well that it was his family he was trying to hide, as they were experts in teasing and embarrassing, and Aurora seemed to understand too.

"We are," Maia agreed, "I feel strange about leaving him, to be honest."

Regulus – who had looked quite serious up until this point – softened as he offered his sister a smile, "I'll call in on him tomorrow and let you know how he's doing, don't worry."

"Thanks," James nodded, putting an arm around Maia, his hand gently resting in the curve of her waist as if to reassure her, "to be honest, it'll be nice to get home and just relax now, knowing Harry's ok."

"I'm sure Lyra will be glad to see you too," Regulus added.

Maia scoffed, "She'll be glad to have _James_ back. You know what she's like, she's all for her dad." To Aurora, she added, "and I don't know how relaxing being at home will be – our daughter is wild."

"And Sirius isn't much better," James added with a grin.

Maia resisted the urge to roll her eyes, wondering if that was a swipe at her too, given how similar she and her brother were, but instead a smile crossed her face as she spoke to Aurora, unsure how much she knew about the family, "Sirius – my twin – he lives with us too. I don't know if you've met him?"

Regulus narrowed his eyes at her – she sounded innocent enough but he knew her well enough to know she was being mischievous. She was one small step away from inviting Aurora around for the weekly family dinner and he couldn't cope with that yet. He needed to move this along.

"Well, no, I haven't actually," Aurora replied, with a smile.

"Well, one day," Regulus replied quickly, stepping away from them and towards the fireplace, "I suppose you'll want to be off then, Maia? You must be tired. Here, come on, floo powder."

Maia smirked a little at how nervous her brother was, and Aurora seemed amused too, folding her arms over her chest and watching Regulus with an expression that filled with as much bemusement as it was humour.

Regulus located the floo powder quickly – apparently having forgotten he could have just summoned it – and stood by the fireplace.

"So, tell Lyra I said hello," he said, holding the floo powder out.

With a smirk, James crossed the room first, followed by Maia. He took a handful of the floo powder and grinned at the astronomy professor, "We'll leave you to it then. You look very busy," he added, nodding towards the pile of parchment on the sofa.

"Ah yes, marking exams," Aurora sighed, "they're a nightmare."

James grinned, "Do I need to slip you ten galleons to get Harry a good grade?"

She laughed, "I don't think so. He's a good kid, he'll have done just fine. Besides, it's not particularly ethical. You should know that – you being a man of the ministry."

James shrugged, "I'm into dark wizard catching, I'm not a boring pencil pusher in the corner of law enforcement." Stepping into the fireplace, he threw her a wink, "nice to see you again, Professor."

With that, he spoke the name of their house, threw down the floo powder and was surrounded by bright green flames. Maia moved forward, as Regulus waved the floo powder at her, and she smiled at the other woman.

"It was nice to see you again," she told Aurora, "glad to see you're still putting up with my little brother."

Regulus resisted the urge to growl that he was little over a year younger than her, and he was 30 years old damn it. Instead he noted how brightly Aurora smiled as she told Maia, "Oh, he's not so bad."

Instead of immediately going for the floo powder, Maia rested her hand on her brother's arm and looked into his eyes, "Thank you for the past few days, Reg. You've been really great – I don't know how we'd have got on without you."

Regulus had never really known had to take praise, and his demeanour changed from nervous and trying to get rid of her, to being awkwardly sweet and brotherly.

"I … uh … it was nothing," Regulus replied.

Maia smiled at him fondly, pushing herself up onto her toes and pressing a kiss to his cheek, "No, thanks sweetie, _really_."

Regulus wasn't sure if he liked her using the same term of endearment for him that she used for her children but he'd do anything for his family despite all the front he put on, and he softened as her lips touched his cheek.

"Not at all," he told her, reaching out and almost to his surprise, finding himself wrapping his arm around her. That was all the cue she needed to wrap her arms around him, hugging him tightly and rocking from side to side a little. Regulus wasn't a hugger, not like Sirius – _his_ levels of affection usually stretched to kissing her cheek upon greeting or parting, so this was fairly surprising. It was nice though, Regulus found himself thinking.

"Look after yourself," Regulus told her, finding it strange to be the protector and the care-taker, then that was usually a job for their elder brother, or for James.

"As long as you promise to check on my boy," she replied, taking a handful of floo powder.

"Of course, see you Sunday."

Stepping into the fireplace, she turned to grin at at he and Aurora, "Goodnight, Professors."

She disappeared in a swirl of emerald green flames and arrived at home a second later, swaying on her feet, but not having the chance to fall because almost as soon as she arrived, a hand grabbed hers, pulling her out of the fire and into a huge hug.

Maia realised she was pressed against her brother and she laughed as she pulled away from him.

"Everything's fine," she announced, though she had no doubt that James would already have done so upon his own arrival. Seeing her daughter leaning in the doorway, she grinned and crossed the room, sweeping her into a hug.

"Oh Sweetheart," she sighed when she puled back a little, resting her hands on her shoulders, "I hope you don't ever cause us as much bother as your brother."

Lyra smiled, surprisingly sweetly, "I'll try, Mummy."

Lyra rarely called her "Mummy" these days, and when she did, it was usually because she wanted something, but Maia liked it. Her daughter was growing up far too quickly so it was nice to hear her be a little girl again, and to express it, she kissed Lyra's forehead.

They went to bed early that night, both exhausted. Maia climbed into bed beside her husband and pulled the duvet over them both as he reached out to her, pulling her in close and wrapping his arms around her.

"I love you," James mumbled, kissing her forehead.

To his great surprise, Maia merely sounded amused and looked up at him, one hand resting on her chest and the other behind her head as she propped herself up on one elbow. James' arm was around her waist, his hand settling in the curve of her waist, and his legs entangled with hers.

"Even when you're flirting with other women?" she asked him, raising her eyebrows.

James stared at her, a frown forming on his face in obvious confusion, "Huh?"

"You know what I'm talking about," she told him, staring into his hazel eyes. He was still wearing his glasses – they often stayed up in bed at the end of the day, talking idly, and he'd take them off when they finally settled down – and she could sort of see her own eyes reflected back at her.

He still looked rather confused but his lips twitched into a smirk, his hand moving to play with her hair, wrapping a long piece around his finger. "Darling wife, tell me what I've done to offend you."

"Oh, I'm not offended," she told him – she and James were both naturally quite flirty, and Maia never really minded when he flirted, because it wasn't too often, and he was devoted her her, but she loved to tease him about it. James got more riled up when she flirted and he was possessive and jealous in the best possible way – never angry with her, but waiting until they got home and smothering her with kisses, reminding her that she was his.

"No?"

"No," she said, a smirk crossing her face and her voice full of teasing, "but what my brother will think to you flirting with his girlfriend, I can't imagine."

"Ah," James mumbled, realising what was going on, "was I flirting? I wasn't, was I?" His hand rubbed the curve of her waist gently, fingers ghosting across her body and making her more than a little distracted. His tone was innocent enough but he was smirking.

"Oh you _were_," she told him, pressing herself closer to him, her face so close to his that their noses were almost touching, and resting one hand on his bare chest, "_nice to see you again, Professor."_

"I was being nice," he told her gently.

"Of course," she mumbled, a smirk written across her face, "in the same way I'm "just nice" to Ludo Bagman every time we see him, but you think I'm flirting _then_."

James almost _growled, _his hold on her tightening a little, fingers digging into the curve of her waist, and he closed the very small distance between them, pressing his lips to hers and kissing her deeply, the hand that was playing with her hair coming up cup her cheek. He kissed her long and hard, and when his lips finally left hers she was slightly breathless.

She grinned, feeling light-headed and taking a moment to catch her breath, "I _love_ jealous James."

"I _know_ you do," he smirked – and Merlin did he know. He could hardly fail to miss the way she looked at him when he was getting jealous, the way she melted in his arms a little more than usual, "so am I forgiven for _my_ so-called flirting?"

She sighed dramatically, "Well, I just don't know."

Suddenly his lips were on hers again, arm pulling her flush against his chest and one hand tangling up in her hair, pulling her into a searing kiss, taking her lower lip between both of his and sucking gently. By the time he broke away from her, her lips were swollen and bright red, and he smirked at her.

"Darling wife – whyever would I flirt with anyone else, when I have you?"

Smiling, Maia settled down against his chest, resting her cheek against his bare flesh and wrapping her arm more tightly around him. James chuckled and she felt him press a kiss to the top of her head, lips brushing against her dark hair.

"G'night Jamie," she mumbled, wishing she had the energy to stay awake and lavish attention upon him.

"Good night love."

The next couple of days were uneventful and the whole Potter-Black-Lupin household were looking forward to having Harry home for the summer. Regulus owled Maia the next day to inform her that Harry was just fine and he'd be leaving the hospital wing that day. Harry himself wrote home the next day – which was Wednesday – assuring them that he was fine and he was looking forward to seeing them.

When Friday evening finally came, Maia was beyond excited.

She arrived in the fireplace after work at exactly 5pm, having made sure she got out of work exactly on time. She stumbled a little as she landed, resting a hand on the fireplace for support, and saw that the rest of the household were standing around ready to go, as she'd told them to before she left for work.

"Evening all," she said, stepping out of the fireplace.

"Yay! Can we go now?" Lyra asked eagerly, desperate to see the platform and the Hogwarts Express and a glimmer of the world that was so unfamiliar to her, again.

"Yes angel," James replied, taking the car keys out of his pocket and tossing them over her head to Sirius – for probably the last time, they had once again borrowed a ministry car, but Maia insisted they would need to buy their own now, and James was incredibly excited at the prospect.

Sirius caught the keys deftly and grinned, dangling them in the air and grinning at Remus, "What do you say Moony – race you to the car. No magic."

"Me too, me too!" Lyra shouted, and before Maia even knew what was going on, the three of them tore out of the living room, Lyra laughing loudly and Sirius clearly having already broken his promise because she could heard a dog barking loudly.

"How was your day?" Maia asked, taking the opportunity to look up at her husband as they had a brief moment alone together. He was wearing his burgundy Auror robes and she took hold of the front of his robes with both hands, drawing him closer.

"Good," he replied, his hands settling on her waist, "been dying to get home so we could go get our boy though."

"Me too," she replied with a smile, pushing herself up onto her tip-toes and pressing a short, sweet kiss to his lips.

"How was your day, love?" he asked her, looking down at her with that familiar look on his face – like she was all he saw, and like she was the most important thing he could ever imagine.

"Yeah good, nothing exceptional, you know?" she replied, "we should get going."

His lips twitched into a smile and one hand came up to her face. He wiped his thumb across her cheek and then showed it to her – there was a smudge of soot on his skin. He shook his head fondly at her, "How d'you manage that every single time?"

"Don't know," she mumbled as he smiled at her, leaning in to kiss her lips very briefly and taking hold of one of her hands, "c'mon on then – let's go."

The ride to King's Cross was loud and full of excitement. Most of the noise came from Lyra, in the middle of the back seat, flanked by her uncles, who were making almost as much noise as she was. Maia was sitting in the passenger seat – James didn't exactly stick by the rules and Maia had her wand at the ready to confound speed cameras and other drivers, and kept reminding James to slow down and watch what he was doing. Privately, she decided maybe she should also get a driving license.

When they arrived at King's Cross, Maia took hold of her daughter's hand, determined not to lose her in the busy train station. Lyra was practically skipping, rushing ahead to get to platform nine and three quarters and Maia laughed as she was forced to move faster to keep up with her.

Maia and her daughter took the barrier to the platform at a run and when they appeared on the platform, Lyra had that wonderful look of awe on her face, looking around and taking everything in.

"Come on angel," James grinned, appearing behind them and resting his hands on his daughter's shoulders, "lets find a good spot to stand – somewhere it's not too busy, so we'll be able to see into the carriages when the train comes."

The platform was busy already, but the train wasn't due in for another twenty minutes. Maia led the way, and James and Lyra followed, James keeping his hands on his daughter's shoulders, guiding her through the crowds. Maia stopped when she reached a fairly quiet part of the platform and she turned to face her family.

"Is the train nearly here?" Lyra asked instantly.

"Twenty minutes yet," Remus replied.

Maia was looking around the platform to see if anyone she knew was around, out of curiosity. She saw Augusta Longbottom standing quite some way off, chatting to another little old lady. She spied Jimmy Bell, their former school friend and quidditch team-mate, chatting away with his wife. There were a few other faces that she recognised vaguely from around – staff from the hospital who she knew enough to say hello to, but didn't really _know,_and ministry people she thought she recognised from the annual ball.

The wait for the train to come in was agonising, but finally, _finally _the noise sounded in the distance and the gleaming scarlet steam train came chugging around the corner.

The platform was buzzing with excitement and those closest to the edge moved even closer, as families all around started to try and catch a glimpse of their children. As the train pulled up, some of the children aboard were hanging out of the windows, waving for their families, but others were standing up and gathering their belongings, ready to get off.

When the train came to a complete halt, the doors swung open and the first few students began disembarking. Maia craned her neck for any glimpse of her son, her eyes trained on the nearest set of doors, but she knew he could be anywhere up and down the platform.

"Can you see him?" she asked Sirius, who was standing on her left and was the tallest of them all.

"Not yet," Sirius mumbled.

After a minute or so, the platform was alive with activity as families were reunited, and after a few more minutes, some people started to move off, and with more and more people jumping down from the train, Maia was eager to see her boy.

"I can't see him," Lyra complained loudly.

Maia had to admit she was surprised at her daughter's sudden interest in seeing Harry – they were hardly the best of friends when they were both home. They got on well enough, but they argued like hell sometimes, and it was always Lyra who started it. But now since Harry had gone off to school, Lyra seemed more eager to see him – maybe she was growing up, or maybe she was desperate to hear new stories about magic. They hadn't told Lyra the full story about what had happened to put Harry in the hospital wing, so maybe she was going to be nice to him to pull the story out of him.

With a laugh, James leaned down and wrapped his arms around his 10 year old, hoisting her into the air so she could see more and making her laugh loudly. Maia smiled too, wondering how long it would be before their daughter was too big to pick up – at ten years old, there was rarely occasion to pick her up, and Maia could just about manage it if she needed to, but it was much easier for James.

"I see Neville!" Lyra shouted with great excitement, pointing.

Then Maia could see him too. Neville stepped down from the train, followed by Hermione, then Ron, and finally Harry. She grinned as she watched the four of them grabbing their luggage from the train too and then looking around for their families.

Neville seemed to spot his grandmother quickly, and Hermione her family too, because they headed off in different directions, whilst Harry and Ron stayed together. Almost immediately, the two were approached by Mrs Weasley and her daughter who was too young to go to school – Maia hadn't even noticed them around, but Mrs Weasley swooped down on Ron, grabbing him into a hug.

"Harry!" Lyra shouted, trying to wave a hand and get his attention.

All at once, the inhabitants of Potter Manor were moving towards Harry. Maia led the way, trying to move through the crowds, and by the time they got close enough, Maia saw Harry and Ron chatting to Mrs Weasley. The girl at Mrs Weasley's side was clinging to her arm a little shyly.

"Harry!" Maia called out as soon as she was close enough.

Her son's head snapped to the side and his grey eyes met hers. Maia grinned and opened her arms as soon as she was close enough to him, "Harry!"

"Mum," Harry grinned, stepping away from the Weasleys – who were distracted anyway as two more had joined their group, the twins she and James had met in the hospital wing at Hogwarts.

Maia wrapped her arms around her son and hugged him tightly. She rested a hand on the back of his head, fingers gently brushing his hair. He'd be taller than her before she knew it, she mused.

"How are you, sweetheart?" she asked him when she finally pulled back just enough to rest her hands on his shoulders and look into his eyes, "how are you feeling?"

"I'm good, Mum, honestly," he replied.

Maia even believed him, which was a very nice feeling, and she stepped aside to let James get hold of their son, taking him into his arms and giving him a big bear hug.

Standing close by, Ron looked a little left out as his own mother fussed over the twins, who looked very embarrassed about it. Maia smiled at him and took a step towards him, stuffing her hands in her pockets, "How are you, Ron?"

He told her he was fine, she asked about his exams, and he said he'd done surprisingly well, to which she told him she was sure he was selling himself short, and in that time everyone had finished hugging Harry and Mrs Weasley had stopped fussing over her twins.

Mrs Weasley turned to the Potters, and most of her attention was on Maia. She smiled broadly at the younger woman, and said, "Mrs Potter, how nice to see you! I'm so glad Ron's made a good friend in Harry."

"Mum," Ron mumbled, his cheeks turning bright red, but his mother continued before he could protested any further.

"Mrs Weasley" Maia smiled, "it's nice to see you too. We hear a lot of good things about Ron." Turning to gesture at her family, she added, "you remember James? And I don't know if you've met my brother, Sirius ... and this is Remus Lupin. And our daughter Lyra."

"Molly, a pleasure," Sirius grinned, throwing the witch a grin, to which Maia rolled her eyes to high heaven and Mrs Weasley looked a bit wrong-footed by his charming grin.

Mrs Weasley turned back to James and Maia. By now her twin boys were chasing around a boy with dreadlocks, waving a big spider at him. Their sister was clinging to her mother but Lyra seemed very amused by it all, watching the boys with a smile. Ron and Harry were talking quietly, edging away from their families by a few steps.

"Thank you so much for having Ron to stay over Christmas," Mrs Weasley told James and Maia.

"Ah, he was no bother at all, the more the merrier round our house," James insisted, putting an arm around Maia, his hand resting just under her shoulder, almost without realising he was doing it, because it was instinctive to be wrapped up in each other.

"Well, Arthur and I will have to return the favour," Molly insisted, "maybe Harry could come and visit us over summer? I know Ron would love to have his friends around."

Maia felt a bit anxious at that, but nodded. As much as she wanted her son to herself, summer was a long time, and she and James still had jobs to go to, so it would be nice for Harry to spend time with his friends.

"Ron will owl Harry, and we can set something up," Mrs Weasley added, before turning to look over her shoulder, "Fred! George! Can't you ever just behave yourselves." Turning back to the Potters, she added, "I'm sorry – my sons don't know how to behave, it seems."

Maia shrugged it off – why should she apologise about her children's behaviour to _them_, they didn't mind, "Don't mention it. My kids are a nuisance too," she said, giving Lyra a cheeky smile.

"How old are you, dear?" Mrs Weasley asked Lyra.

"Ten," replied Lyra.

Mrs Weasley nodded, "Hogwarts this time, or-"

"No," James replied, "she was only ten this year, so it'll be next September."

"Ah, I thought maybe she'd be the same age as Ginny," Mrs Weasley explained, gesturing at the girl at her side, who still seemed shy, blushing and not looking at them, she then looked over her shoulder again at her twins, who were running wild, "Fred! George! Get over here, now."

The twins sighed and did as they were told, but Maia grinned as the boys approached, "Hello again."

"Hi," the twins chorused.

"I hope you haven't been messing with any more toilet seats?" she asked with a grin.

"What?!" Mrs Weasley demanded.

James waved his hand in dismissal, "Oh it was _funny."_

One more boy approached Mrs Weasley, and from Harry's stories, it had to be the eldest boy – Percy the prefect. "Hello Mother," he said, "is everyone here then?"

"We should get going, you lot," Maia told her family, "I want to make sure we get a word with Mrs Longbottom before she and Neville leave." She grinned at Mrs Weasley, "We'll look forward to hearing about that visit for Harry then. Have a nice summer kids."

"Stay out of trouble," Sirius added, and he seemed to be directing it at the twins, who winked and gave him matching salutes.

After saying their goodbyes, they managed to make their way over to Neville and his grandmother – Trevor the toad was sitting on his shoulder and Neville was being told off for losing him again. After making arrangements for when Neville would be staying with the Potters, it was decided he would be spending two nights a week at the Manor, as he always had done. Of course he often spent extra time there, but it was always at least two nights.

Then, they were going home. As they left the train station, James took Harry's trunk in hand and Sirius took Hedwig's cage, and Maia rested her hand on Harry's shoulders, guiding him through the crowds and back to the entrance to the rest of the train station. She reached behind her for Lyra's hand, ensuring she didn't lose her, and by the time they got to the barrier, the crowds had thinned out.

"We were thinking of going out for tea, somewhere nice," Maia told the children as they waited for their turn to go through the barrier, "we can celebrate Harry coming back. What do you fancy?"

"Anything, I don't mind," Harry replied, in typical Harry fashion.

"Anywhere that does pizza!" Lyra replied eagerly.

"Mm steak for me, please," Remus grinned as he stood on Lyra's other side.

Maia grinned, "Sounds good to me."

Several hours later, they were on their way home from a restaurant in the nearby town of Puddlemere. Puddlemere had a large wizarding population but many muggles resided around there too, so the witches and wizards of the area kept their magic under wraps when they were in the town. Several of the businesses were owned by wizards, unbeknown to the local muggles, and this included a restaurant ran by an elderly witch and wizard.

The six of them walked down to the restaurant, chatting away happily, and they had a good meal complete with dessert. One of the best things about the restaurant though, was their secret stock of wizarding beverages – all the witches and wizards in the area knew who the wizards were and who the muggles were, and when Sirius had requested a glass of whiskey, he been brought a firewhiskey to his delight. The muggles of course loved the place too – the service was quick and they'd never know it was helped along by magic.

They walked back home happily after their meal, and it was growing dark and getting well into the evening. As they crossed the threshold of their home, Harry yawned and covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Are you tired, sweetie?" Maia asked him with a fond smile, taking his coat from him and with a flick of her wand, which she produced easily from the inside of her robes, sending the coat flying onto the nearby coat rack. James stood behind her, gently sliding her outer robes down her arms for her and helping her out of her robes, as Sirius and Remus went on into the kitchen.

"A little," Harry shrugged.

"Course you are," Maia nodded, "it's been a long day for you, all that travelling. Why don't you go on up to bed and relax? We're not picking Neville up until the afternoon, so you've plenty of time for a lie-in tomorrow too."

Harry nodded, "Sounds like a good idea."

"Are you tired too, angel?" James asked, watching his little daughter yawn widely and try to smother it with her hand.

"No."

James smirked, "Of course you're not."

"Maybe I'll get in bed and read for a bit though," Lyra added.

"Good plan," James grinned, holding out his hand to her, "c'mon, angel."

Maia was so happy to have her children under the same room that she couldn't contain her smile if she tried.

She gave Harry a big hug before he went into his bedroom, and then went into Lyra's room, grinning at the sight of James lying on Lyra's bed, waiting for Lyra to come back from brushing her teeth. Maia grinned as she knelt in front of Lyra's bookcase, scanning it and wondering what book she might fancy.

When Lyra came back into the room, she climbed under the bed covers and playfully glared at her father, who was not sitting on the edge of her bed, "Daddy, I can't stretch my legs out with you there."

"Oh but you only have short legs," James told her, sighing and standing up anyway.

"How about hippogriffs tonight, sweetie?" Maia asked from the carpet, surveying her daughter's collection of books – most of which were about creatures and old mythical legends and far-off lands, "or unicorns? Vampires?"

"Hippogriffs please!"

"Right you are," Maia nodded, pulling out the book and tossing it onto the bed.

"Goodnight, angel," James grinned, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Lyra's forehead, brushing her curly hair away from her face.

"Can we go to the beach tomorrow?" Lyra asked, as Maia moved over to her bed.

"If it's a nice day," Maia agreed, kissing her cheek softly, "don't forget we're picking up Neville tomorrow at lunch time though."

"Well, if Harry and Neville don't want to come, we can still go can't we?" Lyra asked.

Maia smiled, "Sure we can. Night night sweetheart."

James wrapped an arm around Maia's shoulders as they strolled leisurely down three flights of stairs to the living room. They could have apparated, they supposed but it was more fun to walk together, wrapped up in each other an enjoying a few minutes of peace and quiet before they joined Sirius and Remus.

Once downstairs, they found Sirius and Remus lounging in the living room. A bottle of Sirius' favourite firewhiskey sat on the coffee table, along with two glasses. Sirius was sitting in an armchair with a glass in his hand and he grinned at them.

"Ah, there you are," Sirius grinned, lifting his wand to make the liquid pour into the glasses.

Maia frowned slightly, curling her legs underneath her as she took a seat on the sofa, "Not for me, thanks."

Since she started trying to have a baby, she'd tried to give up drinking. At first she'd just cut down, but when she wasn't pregnant after a second month of trying, she cut it out completely. It wasn't too difficult to do without anyone noticing actually – most of the time. It wasn't like they drank loads, but the four adults had always sat in the living room together at the end of a long week, relaxing with a good drink.

Maia had managed so far, just saying she didn't fancy it, or accepting a drink and holding it but not really drinking it. James had confounded Sirius and Remus a couple of times so they wouldn't notice if he downed her drink, and a few times Maia had transfigured her drink into something else when no-one was looking, though it felt like a waste of good alcohol.

Now, Sirius raised his eyebrows at her, "Ah come on, it's the weekend, we're celebrating our boy being home."

Remus thought he saw a look pass between James and Maia. What the look was, he couldn't quite say, but it seemed to hold quite some significance, and something was going on.

"I … I just don't fancy it," Maia replied, shaking her head.

"You want some wine instead?" Sirius asked, pointing his wand towards the kitchen, "we have a bottle of elderflower wine. Or maybe mead?"

"Honestly, I'm fine," Maia told him, "it's been a long week – I just don't fancy anything."

Sirius shrugged and flicked his wand at the bottle so it poured only one glass, just for James, and accepted her words. They stayed up for a bit, just drinking and talking, and after a while, Remus rose to his feet, announcing that he'd head up to bed.

Glancing at the cloak, Maia agreed.

James and Sirius were both a little drunk and she could tell neither of them wanted to go to bed yet. She rose to her foot but leaned over the sofa, taking James' face in her hands and pressing her lips to his in a brief kiss. James, in his slightly tipsy state, wrapped one arm around her waist and deepened the kiss, trying to draw her close to him. Smiling against his lips, Maia pulled away and ran a hand up the arm that was wrapped around her, gently prising it from her.

"Don't stay up too late," she told him.

James, lounging back against the sofa, winked, "You got it."

"Goodnight Sirius," Maia grinned, turning to her brother, who had a look of disgust on his face at their blatant flirting and display of affection.

As she and Remus left the room and walked up the stairs, Maia wrapped her arms around herself. Remus glanced at her sideways, wondering if he should say anything to her. Maybe she'd want to talk, but then … maybe she wouldn't, and he didn't want to upset her.

Before he was even fully aware of it, the words were tumbling out of his mouth, "You … you're not drinking," he said.

They were standing on the first floor landing now and Maia looked surprised as she stopped still, one hand coming out to rest on the bannister, "Um … yeah, I just didn't fancy it."

Remus narrowed his eyes slightly and his tone was delicate as he said, "No … I mean, you've stopped drinking altogether."

Maia supposed she should have known what he meant. She nodded- he was observant, _very_ observant. She knew what he was probably thinking, and supposed she should probably put him out of his misery and answer the unasked question that seemed to hang in the air between them. Besides, it might be nice to finally let someone else in on it all. As she was debating what to say next, Remus surveyed her carefully, eyes flicking from her face down to her abdomen and back again

He stuttered a little, "I … erm … couldn't help but notice. At first I just thought maybe you were trying to be healthy or something, but I thought last week I'd seen you do something to your wine with your wand, and you're not drinking again … I just ..."

Maia nodded and told him, "I'm not pregnant – because that's what you're thinking, isn't it?"

Remus nodded, looking a little embarrassed, "Right, well, fair enough. Sorry for prying-"

"I'm not pregnant," Maia repeated quietly, her lips curling into a slight smile as she confessed, "but we're trying for a baby."

"You are?" Remus asked, a grin spreading across his face, "that's … that's great."

Maia smiled a little, "Thanks," she said.

Remus grinned, "Honestly, this is great. You're … you're really trying for another baby? I thought maybe you were pregnant, with the no-drinking, but I didn't imagine you were _trying._ I didn't know you wanted another."

Maia shrugged but she was still smiling – it was incredibly exciting to admit this to someone, even though she knew there was no news yet, and that was incredibly frustrating. "I didn't really know either but James brought the idea up ages ago, and the more we thought about it, the more it just seemed … _right."_

Remus nodded, still grinning, "Well, it'll be amazing to have another little niece or nephew. I … um … Merlin, I don't know what to say. I think "good luck" would be inappropriate but ..."

Maia nodded, "Don't tell Sirius? We're not really ready for everyone to know."

"'Course," agreed Remus, shaking his head as if she never needed to ask the question, "how long have … you know?"

Scanning his friend's face, he thought he could see a bit of sadness and he immediately regretted asking the question. He knew the no drinking thing had been going on for several weeks, but that didn't mean anything – they could have been trying for ages.

Maia answered, "About three months."

He nodded, "That's not too long."

Maia smiled at him, but her eyes weren't really shining into the smile and it didn't feel right. She ran a hand through her hair and spoke to the carpet more than him, "It's long enough. You know with Harry and Ly, it just … happened."

Not sure what to say, he reached out to her with one hand, gently touching her arm, "It'll be alright. There's … um … there's plenty of time."

Maia nodded, appreciating that he was trying to help even if he didn't know what to say and she stepped forward to close the distance between them, wrapping her arms around his middle and resting her head against him as his arms came around her and he hugged her.

Remus wasn't sure what kind of comfort he could really offer – it wasn't as if he had experience here, but she was his friend so it seemed only right to offer. "You know, if you need to talk-"

He left it hanging but Maia smiled in appreciation as she pulled away and reached up to press a chaste kiss to his cheek, "Thank you."

When she went up to her own bedroom, Maia brushed her teeth, had a quick wash and ran her hands through her hair as she stood in front of the mirror. Smiling to herself, she left the bathroom and went into the bedroom, throwing her robes onto the chair in front of her dressing table and reaching for her pajamas.

She picked them up but then reconsidered, also setting them down on the chair and pulling back the duvet, climbed into bed in just her underwear. _Nice_ underwear, even if she did say so herself.

It had been a couple of days since she and her husband had had time to be intimate with each other, with everything that had been going on with Harry – the broken sleep, the nights spent in the hospital wing, worrying ridiculously. Even in the few days since leaving Harry and picking him up again, they'd been catching up on sleep, and then just too damned tired and worn out from catching up at work to even devote much time to each other.

But the unspoken promise had passed between them downstairs when she'd kissed his lips and told him not to stay up too late, and he'd answered with a wink.

Maia relaxed on the bed, hoping James wouldn't be too long or she knew she'd fall asleep. To her great pleasure, it wasn't long before she heard footsteps on the landing and the door creaked open . She'd turned off the lights but left on a small lamp by the bedside and the dim light allowed her to see James coming in.

"Not falling asleep on me there, are you?" he asked, his tone all teasing as he pulled his robes off.

"'Course not," she replied, sitting up a little to watch him undress.

He smirked at her, clearly a little drunk but just the right amount, she thought. His eyes fell to her shoulders, as sitting up had revealed she was just in her underwear, and he grinned, undressing until he was just in his, and crawling onto the bed.

She laughed as he crawled over to her, taking her face in his hands and kissing her lips soundly. Her hands moved to his shoulders, wrapping her arms around him and drawing him closer, enjoying the feel of him pressing up against her.

When he broke apart, he pulled at the duvet, pulling it back from her so he could crawl under the covers and join her. When he settled next to her, he was incredibly close, wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her close, his other hand coming up to play with her hair.

"You're so gorgeous," he told her.

Maia rolled her eyes at him, though she was grinning, "You're drunk."

He shook his head, the hand that was playing with her hair coming up to stroke her cheek but before he could lean in for a kiss, Maia couldn't resist blurting out the exchange she and Remus had just had on the landing.

She started by resting a hand on his chest, "I … Remus-"

James raised his eyebrows at her, his thumb stroking over her cheek gently, his voice still full of teasing,"Darling, I don't think I appreciate hearing another man's name when you're in bed with me."

Maia rolled her eyes, playfully pushing against his chest, "Jaime … Remus knows about the baby. He knows that we're trying to have another baby."

James stopped trying to pull her closer or stroke or caress or her now the serious subject of their new baby had been brought up, one of his arms motionless around her waist and the other hand coming to rest in her lap, taking hold of her hand.

"Well," he said, "Moony was always observant."

"It feels odd, having someone else know," she admitted, meeting his eyes carefully.

He smiled, "You know Moony won't tell anyone, and he won't pry or poke. That's not him."

"I know, that's not … it's … it's just, someone else knowing – it's so real. If it doesn't work out, and we've _told_ people … I mean, it's been three months, Jaime."

James frowned a little, the hand at her waist rubbing her skin gently and the hand holding her hand slowly letting to so he could move back up to cup her face. He tilted her chin up a little to make her look directly into his eyes and tried to find the right words.

"Listen," he said gently, "this is _going_ to happen for us. Three months is such a short amount of time really. I _promise_, I'm going to give you a baby. We just have to be patient."

Maia nodded – somehow when James said things like that, he made it sound like it was real, and she could never really doubt him. She felt like a desperate woman as she move her hands across his shoulders and his chest, leaning in close and trying to express exactly what she felt for him.

She knew she should feel lucky really – she had two beautiful children and her husband was the absolute best. Especially when he looked at her like he was right now, so full of love, and with that wonderful sparkle forming in his eyes.

"I love you," she told him, leaning in so close that their lips almost brushed with every word.

He responded with a passionate kiss, one hand tangling up in her hair and the other arm in a vice-like grip, pressing her against him and leaving her breathless when they broke apart. He licked his lips and grinned at her, "I love you too."

* * *

**Note: And that's the end! I'll be getting to work on Chamber of Secrets soon, once I've had a flick through the book and worked out how it will be different. As well as the original story, there should be more of James and Maia's attempts to have another baby, and maybe some developing Remus/Tonks and Regulus/Sinistra. If there's anything you'd like to see, or any ideas you have about things that would change, feel free to let me know. Thanks to everyone who has read!**


	16. Important Note

**New Story Announcement!**

Hi everyone! Once again a big thank you for following Maia's story so far. I know it's been a very long time since I promised to start writing a sequel to this but my Master's degree got in the way. I am now a proud graduate with a full time job, but have my evening and weekends completely free so I'm pleased to say White Sheep: Chamber of Secrets has started, and the first chapter is up and available on my profile.

It's been so long that I'm not sure anyone will read it, but if you're interested in sticking with the story, I'd be so happy. Once again, apologies for the delay!


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